


Worst Third Date Ever

by Ironwoman18



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 67,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22777735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironwoman18/pseuds/Ironwoman18
Summary: Spencer Reid and Maxine Brenner are starting their journey to have a relationship. But Cat Adams wants to break them apart. Follow their feelings and thoughts during there face-to-face with the mean girl. SpencerxMax, spoilers from 15x06
Relationships: Spencer Reid/ Max Brenner
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Cat's plan

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any Criminal Minds character, I just use for entertainment and to kill boredom.
> 
> This story is an study of Max and Spencer reactions during their conversation with Cat

After their case in Illinois, Spencer and Max planned a date to drink coffee the morning after he arrived to DC.

Spencer was nervous because she wanted to see his apartment. It was something weird but he accepted.

He cleaned his apartment deeper than he intended to but he didn't want it to smell like an old-person apartment.

He puts on his favorite suit and a tie. He was cleaning the table for the fourth time when he hears his bell rings.

He runs to the door and opens it, there was Max. She was wearing a cute light gray shirt, a jacket and jeans "Hey"

He smiles "Hi, co…come in"

"Oh boy, you, uh… you cleaned" the smell hits her nose as soon as she walks in. His apartment was cute and cozy but that smell was awful.

"I did" he was cursing in his mind. Why was he nervous? She was so sweet and she wouldn't say something mean because his apartment was 'dirty'.

-Hey, uh, we're just getting coffee. Why did you bleach your apartment?

Well, even though it's out third coffee date, you wanted to see my apartment, which initially I actually thought was kind of odd, but then I remembered that I was actually the one that said you should meet me at my apartment,…" he started to babble which she thought was cute but also very confusing "… and then I realized I have not had company in… 4 years, so, I should probably open up a window. You know, air out the place"

She smiles at his speech, he was so cute but she started to feel like maybe her request to take things slow maybe make his feel uncomfortable or he wasn't happy about it.

She really likes him and doesn't want to lose him like a former boyfriend because she took things too quickly. She looks at him worry and asked "Are you ok with this?"

"With what?"

"Taking things slow"

"Oh, yeah, I'm… I'm good with that"

"Good, because, um… whenever I've taken things fast, I've been disappointed"

"I know the feeling" he looks at her "A…and I know what 'fast' means to me, but in your book, when you say 'fast' do you mean…" she laughs softly as his phone starts to ring "Sorry, I'm so sorry"

"Please" she says as she turns to see his apartment while he takes that call.

He looks disappointed when he realizes it was from Emily, which means work.

"Hey, what's up?"

"We have a case that's urgent"

"All right. I'll be right in"

"Spencer, there's something you need to know"

"Uh- huh. All right. Understood" Max was checking something on a table listened who his voice change from his usual calm and warm tone into a cold and tensed one.

Both turn to look at each other, she knows it's a case so there date have to wait, she understand it but still its disappointing "Work"

"Yeah" he was also disappointed because he likes to drink coffee with her but this was an important case.

"It's ok. Coffee can wait" he places a hand on his chest and pats it softly "Go save a life" she leaves his apartment and he was upset to lose this opportunity with her especially with the person he has to face with at work.

He drives as quick as possible to the bureau and asks Emily all the details. Cat Adams, somehow, did it again. She managed to kidnap two people with someone's help and managed to annoy him.

Emily ordered the prison to bring her to their offices to interrogate her, of course it was his job. She always says her plans to him. That's there game.

She wanted a date with him, but that would never happens. He won't accept her demands, she must have a hidden agenda but what did she has in store for them?

She got into his skin quite quickly this time. He has to leave, take off his tie because he couldn't breathe for the anger he felt and throw some books on the floor.

After some minutes he calmed himself and walks to inform what she said about the date and about the people she kidnapped were father and daughter, a slightly change from her usual M.O.

They decided to send Emily to talk to her while Spencer stay outside. And he decided to call Max to check on her, he needs to hear her voice after his face off with Cat.

When she sees his phone number she let go a sigh of happiness "Hey, you" she was picking up her coffee.

"Hey, how's your day going?"

"Amazing actually. I got a phone call from my headhunter about a position at the Smithsonian creating programs for people with disabilities. I am drooling I want it so bad" he happiness makes him smiles a little.

"You're gonna get it"

She can tell there was something wrong but can't quite get it. He did not sound like himself so she decided to ask him "Hey, um… are you ready to tell me about what's been going on? Because there is something"

'Yeah there is something' thought him but of course he does not want to bother her with his problems with Cat. But he does not want to make her feel he does not thrust her so he told her "it's an old case. Someone I arrested that I thought I was done with"

"Well, we could talk about it tonight, maybe. Could be our first night time date" she smirks thinking about a night date with him. She wants to keep going out with him.

"Only if we don't talk about any of this, ok? I don't want to waste another second on her"

"Her?" He cursed under his breath when he realizes he told Max, his problems were because of a woman.

"It"

"It" she was not stupid, she heard him saying her so it was a woman messing with him. She was not the jealous kind of woman but still hates it when another woman mess up with her boy… 'no, he still isn't your boyfriend Max' she was thinking.

"I uh…" he was nervous.

"It just… it sounded like you said…"

"I have to go. Keep me posted."

"Right. You… you too"

"Bye" and he hung up. She bites her lip a little angry and wanting to know what was happening.

He was weird and she was worry but she will wait until tonight when they can talk.

After that he didn't call again and neither did she. She sent her resume to her headhunter so he gives it to the museum so they make their decision.

Meanwhile she does some painting and plans her classes. At night she got a phone call. She smiles thinking it was Spencer call to let her know he was ready to pick her up for their date.

The number was not registered but she answer "Hello Max, I have your sister Eloise" her sister scream to show her it was not a joke "if you want her alive and well… go to Spencer Reids apartment, there's a key under the mat" and she hung up leaving Max crying and shaking.

She managed to go to her car and drives to his apartment. Not knowing what will happens or what she will found.


	2. The encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max will have a face off with Cat Adams, one of the most dangerous people the BAU had ever face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter where we can see Max, Cat and Spencer's thought through out this tense moment

Max drove to Spencer's apartment as fast as she could. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered the call that informed her about her sister's kidnap.

When she was on her way there she could see some police cars behind her, she was stressed and hit the wheel with her hand.

Two of them stopped in front of her to make her stop. And so she did but gets out as quick as possible saying "No. No, no, no, no, no, please. You've got to move your cars. It's an emergency" her hands were up showing she did not have a weapon.

"Max?" Said a voice behind her.

When she turned there was her dad "Dad?" She runs to him and hugs him tight.

"Sweetie, you're alright. You'reok" he rubs her back softly.

She cries as they were hugging. A man walks toward her "Hello Max. I'm SSA Matt Simmons. I work with Spencer, I think you know something happened to your sister and we will need your help to rescue her"

"What... what about my dad?"

"An agent will take him to the hospital. He's alright but we need to check him after being kidnapped for several hours. He's in good hands"

Her dad nodded and after a last hug and a kiss on the cheek, they both go separate ways.

Max into Matt's SUV and her dad into another. Inside hers were Garcia and JJ, who introduced themselves and quickly start to explain everything to Max about the situation. 

They told her how Spencer outsmarted Cat the first time, then when she made him go to prison for a crime he did not commit using drugs to make him hallucinate.

"She did what to him in Mexico?" She was shocked by this women's methods.

"Yeah, and that's where the story gets even more convoluted"

"All you need to know is, he whole reason for doing this is to destroy Reid's life" JJ says.

"And that you're just the next pawn in her game" this time Matt spoke.

Max nodded and looks at the street "Ok, so, she's, like, a mean girl, but more stabby"

"Yes!" The three agents says at the same time.

After some more minutes they arrived to Reid's apartment and parks there. And they were glad Spencer, Luke and Cat have not arrived yet. They got in and checked everything before let Max in. Knowing Cat was capable of planting a bomb or something.

After that they let her in. JJ hands her an earpiece "We'll be able to monitor you with this the whole time. We'll all be listening, but Prentiss will be telling you what to say" Max nodded. 

"Thumbs up if you can hear me" Garcia whispers in a microphone and Max did it.

After that JJ gave her some advices about how to being relaxed, they had her back covered and if she needs a hand they will jump in any second. She nods and sighs as they leave her alone.

Max can listen to them arriving and takes a deep breath ready to her encounter with Cat. When the door opened she can see Cat and Spencer kissing.

She was in shock at that and when they broke apart Spencer's eyes set on Max and he wanted to die right there.

Some guy of the SWAT team pulls her away as Spencer walks to Max with Luke behind him "What are you doing here?"

"Get her out of here. Get her out of here" Luke ordered. 

"No, no, no. She will kill them if I leave"

"Kill who?"

"My father and my sister"

"Michelle?"

"No, my... my younger sister" Spencer's mind was working faster to understand that Cat kidnapped Max family not her own father and stepsister "Look, I got a call from some woman. I heard my sister screaming in the background. She told me to come here, that there would be a key under the mat. Spencer, what is happening?!" 

He understood what was Cat's plan "it's your family she kidnapped" 

Luke got a message saying JJ and Matt recovered her dad. Of course Luke and Max already knew it, because Prentiss told him her plan.

He asked Spencer to take Cat back to her cell and regroup but Spencer has other plans.

"No. Bring her in here and leave us alone"

"Dude"

Spencer got out his phone and called to his house's phone, and hands his cellphone to Luke "you can monitor us with this" then turns to Max "Follow my lead. We can outsmart her. Let her gloat. She loves to gloat. Just don't show fear or she'll use it against you"

"Who?"

"Her" The three of them turned around to see Cat walking in with a smirk on her face, cleaning the lipstick he messed up after the kiss. When she was closes to them, her eyes on Max's "We're all here. What do you want to talk about?" He knows she planned this. Make her partner to call Max, acting like he offended her while thinking about Max and pushing him to go there.

"So, so much" she smirks looking at him and then looks at her "she's cute" Max could feel her predator's energy as she walked next to her.

Spencer's and hers eyes met and she knew the game had started. 

"Did it make you mad that I was kissing your boyfriend?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Well, he's not my boyfriend" she says with a little laugh looking at him from the corner of her eyes, she wanted to be his girlfriend but she will not say that to her "and I kind of have some other things on my mind"

"Like what?" 

"Are you gonna hurt Eloise?"

"Not if I don't have to, no. Honestly, if she follows instructions, she might even learn from this whole experience"

"What does that mean?"

"Normally, Spencie and I, we spend out time together playing games, but tonight, I've brought you all here to make a point. You can do so much better" she said that looking at Spencer. 

"With you?"

"I'm not talking to you" she then turns to Max and pointed at Max "I'm talking to you. Because, girlfriend, you need to know the truth about your boyfriend"

"He's not my boyfriend" she looks at him after she said it again, like trying to give him a message she was just saying that because it was obvious that Cat was jealous of her dating him. But he did not get it.

"No kidding. You guys haven't even made out yet" 

"You told her that?" She said a little hurt, she never expected him to tell her that.

"I had to say a lot of things tonight" Spencer usually told Cat some personal information so she can split some more information but he never thought she could know about Max or make this.

"Yes he has. He said that you're not me, that, um... that not matter what, he can't get me out of his mind"

"Everything I said I was lying to save your family" 

"Did our kiss look like a lie?" Cat was making sure to point that out to Max to made her hate Spencer. 

"No" he cursed himself and could not believe he kissed Cat.

"Thank you. See, now we're getting to the heart of the matter" Cat sighed "You see, everyone thinks that Dr. Spencer Reid is... is just this nice, bookish, uh, genius who, uh, always save the day and has all the answers, uh..." she took a photo of his mother "and has zero mommy issues, right?" He wanted to snapped her hands off that photo "but, um... I know the real him"

"Oh, yeah? Who's the real me, Cat?"

"The real Spencer Reid throws women against walls..." that made him to remember that day, he was set free hours from jail, thanks to Cat, and he was not himself. He was upset because he just heard something exploding from the other side of the phone, he thought she ordered her partner to kill his mom "and hisses that he's going to kill them" he was thankful JJ stopped him, if he was alone Cat would die that day.

"That was a very different situation"

"No, it wasn't"

Max talked after several minutes of silence, she knew what happened in Mexico but she did not know what happened after that.

JJ cursed after listening what Cat said. She could not believe how Cat had everything planned to destroy his relationship. 

"What is she talking about?" Spencer did not want her to know this, at least no yet.

"You tell her. She's not gonna believe it coming from me"

When Prentiss arrived to Spencer's apartment and Luke told her the situation was not good, the unit chief made contact with her "Max, listen closely. We are gonna need you to lie" Max just listen and planned what she will need to do or say. The situation was really stressful and she has to do it right. Cat Adams looked really dangerous. 

"Two years ago, Cat had her partner kidnap my mother. Just like tonight. She got under my skin and..." 

"And you threw her against a wall?"

"Don't skimp on the details, Spencie. She deserves to know everything"

Spencer could not look up as he keeps telling her the story "She was pregnant at the time and I knew that when I hurt her"

"And?.. the next day..." she looks at Max as she said it "I miscarried" Cat said with a calm voice "the end"

"That's not true" 

"It is most certainly true, check my medical records" and Garcia did immediately. She discovered the miscarriage was true but not the day before the incident happened. 

"That doesn't mean I-I would..."

"Boss... it's a big lie from Cat's part" she informed and all the team listed.

Then Prentiss told Max and added "Fake tears, if you can't fake tears, fake anger" and she did.

"Stop. Look" Her look towards Spencer was of totally disappointment that made him almost had a breakdown right there.

"I thought you were decent" a silence felt on the room and you could hear Spencer's heart breaking with every minute he saw Max has to hear what he had to been through two years ago.

Cat was having a blast looking how she was destroying them. Max could see now how this woman was able to use such a thing to make him feel bad, she was not a profiler but she knows Cat was a typical Queen Bee.

"I'm sorry" he sat next to Max looking down like a kid who just did something bad.

"Notice how your boyfriend is apologizing to you and not me" she keeps calling him her boyfriend.

"He's/ I'm not my/her boyfriend" this time Spencer and Max said at the same time. Both looking away. She has to keep her fake angry.

"That's good, because men are all the same, aren't they Maxie?" 

Reid will not let Cat calling her Maxie like they were friends. He will protect her "don't call her that"

"What, are you gonna throw me against a wall and choke me, or do you only do that to pregnant women?" She keeps using that against him and remembering Max what of an awful person he was.

"Why are you doing this?" She knew it, she wanted to destroy Spencer.

"Because I want you to see it. I want you to see that he is... no better than whoever hurt you before"

"Stop"

"I can see it on your face. What's his name?"

"It's none of your business. It is exactly my business. In fact, it's my specialty" Max keeps looking at her. She could tell this was the other thing she wants. She hates men and knows she will love a story of abuse men "I mean, i could have Juliette and baby sister go over there if you want. They could take care of him"

Spencer saw a chance to make her split with her offer. He knows if she calls her partner they will be able to pinpoint her location and save Max's sister "Say yes. Give her what she wants"

"Hmm. See? He wants you to get me to make a little phone call so they can trace it. They're so good, the FBI"

Cat was reading Spencer like a textbook. Max on the other hand was tired of their games. She can tell they are reading each other and they will not let anything to slip.

She stands up "what is wrong with the two of you? What is this sick, twisted thing that you have?" Cat was having fun as she thought she was under control of everything and that she was getting into Max's skin "Listen, I just want to save my sister. Will you please just tell me what I have to do to do that?"

"Tell me his name. Tell me the story. That's it" Spencer could see Max desperate look and he knows Cat was not trustworthy "and then if they can let Juliette exit stage right, then I promise you I will let her go"

Max nodded and Spencer knows she was getting into her trap. Cat will not let her go, that was just a lie to get what she want. Max was not stupid, she can tell she has Cat where she wanted. She just has to play her cards well, first hung up the call Spencer made at the beginning of this.

She walks to the door play like she think the FBI will not trace her phone if that line was not open. Spencer and Cat thought the same, she was acting naive "Here. Use this use my phone. They can't trace it"

"Hmm... you'd be surprised"

"I don't even need a call. Just... just a photo. Something to prove to me that she's still alive. Please"

Cat could tell she was desperate "story first"

"Max, Max, I have been here with her before. She called the number and told the partner to kill my mom"

"It is so tricky, isn't it? I mean, who are you gonna trust? The lying, cheating, violent psychopath... or me?" Max looked between both of them. If she has to be honest she could never trust Cat but right now she had to act like she was hurt with him.

After several minutes of thinking she decided to tell the story she planned. She can see Cat thought every man want to hurt women so she has to play on that. She turns and take a deep breath, she unlocked her phone and starts it "His name was Mike Davis. We dated for two years"

"Good. When did it end?"

"Last year"

"Was he good in bed?" She asked like they were best friends and they were having a sleepover.

"Shut up" Spencer was not happy.

"What? You have to know where you stand"

"He was good... good at, um, separating me from my friends and my family enough that the first time he punched me in the face, I didn't have anywhere to go" she was holding her tears and looks down "and my first response wasn't 'get out' it wasn't 'go to hell' it was 'I'm sorry, Mike'" she covers her mouth with her hand and having tears in her eyes "that's when he knew he had me"

"How many hospital visits were there?"

"None. No, he... he knew how to hurt me just enough, I guess"

"But you found the strength to leave. What did you do?" 

"I planned and I... I waited"

"Waited for what?" 

"I live here in D.C. but I'm also a resident in Virginia. It takes 60 days for the permit to clear" Spencer understood immediately what she meant by that.

He stands up trying to stop her "Max, stop talking, stop talking right now"

"No, don't stop. Here. Give me the phone" Cat says also knowing what she implied with her last statement "Look, I'm gonna enter the text, stick the landing and I'll hit 'send'" that is what Max wanted. Emily, Luke, JJ and Penelope hearing what she was saying and getting ready to send to Matt and Rossi where Juliette has Eloise. 

Max kept her poker face "when I was ready, I picked a fight louder enough for the neighbors to hear. And he came at me with his fist just cocked back, so, I pulled my Glock 19 out of my purse. I shot him" she said as she felt a knot in her throat. 

Cat looked so pleased by that and Spencer tried to defend her "it was self-defense. He was attacking you"

"That's what I told 911 when he was struggling to breathe on his kitchen floor. That's why the police didn't charge me, but I... after I hung up I... I shot him two more times" when she said the last part Cat could not control a little sadistic laughs as she send the text and trigger Garcia's computer.

Spencer, on the other hand, was dying inside. Max could tell by his look.

"Wow! You really have a type, don't you? Quite a dilemma, too. She just admitted to murder"

"She'll beat it"

"Probably. But you two are done" again the silence was so deep that you could hear both hearts finally broken. She wish she could tell him it was a lie but she could not until they meet in their office "oh, wow! Look at that. Your sister" Cat handed her, her phone with a photo of her sister "Alive and well" Max runs to the door "Well, you're welcome"

When she reaches the door there was Prentiss "I-I got something, I got something. Please, please, please help" her eyes met with Spencer's one last time that night. She was sorry for everything she had to say in front of him.

Meanwhile, Cat hold and drop the black King and says "I win" looking at him with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok that was all for this chapter. I had to write this twice because I misclicked the copy button and touched the paste one. All the text was selected and it got deleted. I'm writing on my phone and I couldn't recover it. It was the worst thing that ever happen to me. 
> 
> But I'm here. I'm glad that the last chapter liked you. Hope you find this entertaining and we will see in the next one.


	3. The Debrief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max was not happy with his face after her fake story, but she outsmarted Cat, now she and the team explained Spencer their plan. And they ended up with a sweet kiss at the elevator.

After they walk out of his Apartment, Max did not feel it like it was a victory. She was worry she hurted Spencer and that hurt her.

Emily was calling Garcia so she can trace where Juliette and Eloise were. They both get in the SUV and Emily drives.

"That was quite impressive Max" the black haired woman said with an smile "if we didn't know you were lying we could take that as a serious confession" Max just nodded "what's wrong?" Emily could feel something was wrong with her.

"His eyes... he looked so broken when I said I shot Mike two more times" she has tears in her eyes.

"Hey... calm down. You were in a very stressful situation and we asked you to lie in order to convince her. You did it and Spencer couldn't see through it because he was out of his comfort zone"

Emily keeps driving while Max talked again "it... it was hard"

"Every hostage situation is. Reid is also very cold headed but tonight he had you there but also Cat which is his archi nemesis. The only criminal who affected him not once but twice" she looks at her "you're a civilian who faced a serial killer and won in her game. You should be proud" Max smiles slightly after that "we will explain all this to him. He won't hate you, ok?" Max nodded and clean her tears.

Prentiss smiles and holds her hand gently. She knows it was not fair for Spencer and Max to face this. Spencer went through a lot and he deserved happiness. She was thankful he met Max, because she was truly a keeper and they deserved each other.

When they arrived to the BAU there was everyone. Eloise was in the hospital and will be there in a few minutes. JJ offered Max coffee and something to eat. They talk about everything and were in a very good mood.

It was already the morning when Spencer arrived. And they explained everything to him. He was very surprised when he discovered that Max was part of his team's plan to outsmart Catherine Adams.

Everything was laughs and relax after the stressful hours. Spencer even had the chance to meet her dad and her other sister.

JJ walks towards him while he was getting coffee "Hey Spence" she smiles at him "how are you feeling?"

Spencer sighs and turns to face his best friend "honestly? I feel like a huge weight lifted out of my shoulders. When I arrived here a few hours ago I felt like Cat took Max away from me"

She smiles and nods "I understand. I was listening and was so upset when she told Max what happened. It was our secret. I never added that to the report"

"It's ok. If after this Max stayed and explained everything to me, I guess she really want to keep our relationship up and running" he took a sip of his coffee.

"She really cares about you, Spence so talk to her and see what are her thoughts. Maybe take her back home" suggested JJ with a smirk.

"Yes mom" he teased her and for that she hit him on the arm "ouch..." he pouted.

"Let's go Spence" he smiles and both walk back to the bullpen. 

He keeps talking to some of his teammates Luke even tell him to not mess up with Max, after what she said, he was scared of what she could do. His eyes met with hers and he made a little move of his head so they can walk out.

She follows him out to the elevator "so... that kiss though"

"Yeah that" he was ashamed she has to see that.

"You know, she's right. You can't fake that kind of things"

"No you can't. But I heard that with... the right person you can do... even better" he looks at her after pushing the elevator's bottom. 

"You just like the bad girls" that kiss was really intense and if she was not there maybe they could end in his bed.

"Truthfully? Sometimes" that makes Max skipped a beat. She knows all men, and women, have this attraction for bad girls and bad boys "but right now I like the good girl better" he smiles at her as he said so.

She smiles but then gets serious and with her eyebrows furrowed "is your life always this exciting?"

"No, well my personal life isn't" he said holding the door for her.

"Thank God because this was probably the worst... third date ever" she looks down running her hand on her hair.

"Is there anything I can do to... salvage it?" He looks at her with a smile and pushes the bottom of the floor his car was parked.

She thinks for a few seconds then smirks and looks up at him "there could be one thing..." she walks a few steps and he understood what she meant then he leans in a kisses her holding her cheeks with his hands as the elevator's doors closed.


	4. How to save a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is something I wanted to do for a while. The aftermath of episode 6.

The elevator started to go down as they kiss softly. His hands on her cheeks and hers on his waist. 

She stands on her tiptoes and moves a hand to place it on his neck gently playing with his hair.

They broke the kiss but they faces were still close "did it salvage?" Spencer asked her.

"It was a solid eight" she said with a little smirk teasing him.

"Hey! I never got an eight" he pouts before smiles "do I have to do turkeys with my hands for extra points?" They both laughed and moved away gently as the doors open.

They both walked to her car, since an agent got her Volkswagen into the FBI parking lot.

"Spencer?"

"Yes Max?"

"I... um... I called to my work this morning saying I was sick. I'm not in the mood to work today or being alone so... um... would you like to hangout?" She bit her lip waiting.

He smiled and nodded "sure I would love to" she smiled "Emily said I could go, yesterday was very stressful so she gave me the day"

"Wonderful, follow me to my place. I will park my car and then we can go in yours" he nodded. 

"Sure" she smiled and got in her car then he walks to his and both started their cars and drove away. He followed her as they go to her house. 

He loved being with her because she made him feel relaxed and comfortable. 

When they arrived at her place she parked in her place and walked out after turned off the engine. 

He waited for her outside his car "do you want to... see my apartment?" She asked him.

He looks at her and could tell she was nervous "sure why not" he said and she smiled then they walked upstairs to her apartment. It was the number twenty.

She opened the door and let him walk in "please come in" she said smiling. 

He did and he liked her style. The living room had three walls painted with a light blue color and the fourth wall was red. He could see some couches with light colors and others with intense colors.

She had some paintings on her walls and could see some paintings equipments. It looked just as you could imagine for person who studied art.

"So what do you think?" She asked biting her lip.

"It looks... amazing. It's the opposite to mine" he laughs gently and so did she.

"Yeah... yours looks more like a library. No offense" she said quickly to him.

"It's ok I'm... um... not this bold? I think?" She laughed.

"I studied art so I'm a fantastic of colors and stuffs like that. I used to wear colorful clothes back in college" he laughs looking around. 

"And do you paint?"

"Yeah but I'm not that good. I'm more into photography. I took a course a month ago and I teach kids to take photos with old cameras, they love it" she smiles.

"I would like to see them" her eyes got brighter when he said so.

"I will go get my album. Make yourself at home" he walked to a couch and take a sit. He looks around and there were some photos of her father with her sisters and her. 

He also saw a black and white photo of a very young Don with a woman just as young as him in a white dress. It looked like a photo of their wedding day. 

Max walked out holding the album, she looked as Spencer checking the photo "those are my mom and dad at their wedding day" she said and sits next to him "she died two months ago... cancer" she had some tears in her eyes.

"That's why no wife or mother informed the kidnap of your father and sister" she nodded cleaning her eyes.

"Yeah... it was hard for us but we didn't want her to suffer much longer so. Even though we miss her so much, we feel like she is in a better place now" 

He was not a religious man but he memorized the bible and if what it said was true then, Max's mom was indeed in a better place.

She placed the album on his lap "I will make coffee, do you want?" 

"Yes please" he put the photo on the table again and looked at the album cover with a photo of her family.

"Oh no... I don't have coffee" she pouted looking at him "I will go buy us some"

"Do you want me to go with you?" He asked her.

"No it's ok, the store is close from here so I will go quickly, and be right back" she smiled and got her purse then walks out the apartment.

Meanwhile he checked the album. It was full with photos of her family, her students doing some art projects. He saw some photos of the art projects, the turkeys, some characters made with eggshells.

Some minutes later she arrived and he was so focused on the photos he did not notice her. She smirked and put her stuffs on the table and walked to him and jumped on and tickled him.

He was catch by surprise laughing as she tickled him "hey!" He laughs more "stop it!" He managed to move them so now he tickled her.

"No... fair!" She was now laughing. And after some more minutes they stopped it, laughing and breathing heavily for the laugh.

"Do you know that the laugh when someone tickles you is a stress signal because someone is touching your body and you don't know when it will stop? If you do the same on yourself you won't get the same reaction" he said after his breathing calm.

"Now I know it... Spencie" she said the last thing mocking Cat at the end.

He rose an eyebrow "good... Maxie" he said also mocking Cat and they both laughed at that "you know, I like how my good girl say it" he said in a flirty tone making her blush "did you buy the coffee?"

"Yes and I also brought something special for you" she stood up and walked to the table where she put the coffee and a box. She walked back to him, put the box and cupholder on the table then she handed him his cup "try it... I think I made it just like you like it" 

He removed the top of the cup and drank some "how did you...? It took JJ a year to bring it just like I like"

"I'm a quick study" she smirks and then points at the box "open it up" He did and inside were some donuts with chocolate and sprinkles on it "I saw you always picked one or two when we were on our dates so I decided to bring you some" 

He smiles big "you know I guess you are the one who salvaged that third date. This deserves a 10 plus" she smiled and kissed him gently.

"And that made you got your 10" they both smiled and they spent the rest of the day talking, he invited her lunch and then walked to the park and had a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted them to have a cute little moment alone after what happened. I hope you liked it. I tried to make it kind of like their first date. With a playful Max and a relaxed Spencer.
> 
> The next chapter could be their first night time date. It will be placed after the case in Denver.


	5. It's a date

After their case in Denver, Spencer got his suitcase at the hotel and while JJ made the check out to leave, he was typing a text on his phone. 

Dave walked to him "hey kid, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm letting know Max we will return tonight, she asked me to text her when I'm done with a case" Rossi smiled looking at his boy genius "you know what? This is some new experience because, I always saw JJ, Hotch, Derek, Matt, Emily, Luke even you texted someone they are ok and they will return home" Spencer smiled and Dave patted his back.

"There's always new experiences in life and I'm happy you are living this one. She cares about you a lot" Spencer nodded softly.

"Yeah, she wants things slow and that's fine for me"

"That's perfectly normal, especially when she had a relationship with a man that wasn't nice to her. I totally understand that"

"Me too and I won't do anything she doesn't want me to. So I don't know when to ask her to be my girlfriend" 

Dave smiled at him "you will know, when the moment arrives, you will know" Spencer just nodded and JJ with the rest of team arrived, ready to return home.

They chatted about their parallel universes expectations, he told JJ he wanted to be a cowboy with horses and cattle and she would be there with Will and the kids, Dave will have a saloon and Penelope a place for wounded animals. 

Dave told them his wish to be a boxer and then talked about his conversation with Muhammad Ali where he was drunk.

After that the travel was relaxed. They slept a few minutes before the pilot announced they arrived to DC.

They leave to there houses, it was midnight so they decided to do the paperwork in the morning. 

Spencer drove to his apartment and when he arrived he found a letter under his door. He was nervous because he knows how unsubs try bad things with the nails but when he saw it was from Max he relaxed a bit.

It was written by her hand so it could not be someone faking her, also no signs of stress in her writing. He was profiling a piece of paper but he had to make sure.

When he was sure the letter was legit he opened the envelope and inside was a letter.

Hey Spencer:

I wrote this letter to welcome you home after a few days working outside. 

Since we met and you told me somethings about your job, I got worry, and after faced Cat, well it grew up more.

Now finally I got two tickets for a "Paint and Drink" event, I know you do not drink alcohol so you just skip that and drink water.

It is this Saturday night. The rest of the week I will be busy but I promise to call you when I can.

See you soon,

Max Brenner.

Spencer took out the tickets for the event and smiled at that. He was not the kind of artistic man but he hopes he can do a decent job. 

Then he put the letter and tickets on his table and walked to his bedroom, changes into his sleeping clothes and lays in bed falling sleep almost immediately. 

The next morning he woke up and went to the bathroom to take a shower and then walked back to his bedroom to dress up and drives to his work where he did his paper work. 

At noon JJ walked over to him "hey Spence, I guess you are ready" he nodded "ok want to come over with us to eat? Emily will arrive tomorrow, she and Andrew want to spend another day together so, no cases until she comes back"

"Sure I would like it" he stood up and gets his messenger bag with him as the team leave for lunch. Talking about random stuffs.

"So Spencer how are things with Max?" Luke asked as they walked in a Chinese restaurant. 

The others looked at him waiting for his answer "well she invited me to go to a 'paint and drink' event this Saturday night"

"Oh that sounds awesome, I heard it was a cool way to connect with your couple and do something different"

"I would love to see Spence painting" JJ said with a smirk "he is the math boy"

"Actually everything is math... music, art, cooking..."

"Ok I will stop you right there before you ruin my artistic side" said Tara.

They all walked in and asked for a table for 6 people. The waiter led the way to the table and after they were sitting he handed them the menu.

They ordered their food and talked happily. It was one of those weird calm days when the BAU did not have to see dead bodies or catch psychopaths or psychotic people.

"How is little Rosemary doing?" Asked Spencer.

"She's amazing, she is quieter than the other four were. She let us sleep" Matt smiled "and since it's our fifth kid, there's almost anything we didn't expected from her"

They laughed then JJ added "yeah when you already had a kid, the second is easier. I can't imagined the fifth"

"It's still an experience but not like the first" he smiled.

JJ nodded and they finished their food, they decided to divide the bill and everyone pay part of it.

Spencer calculated it and they all pay their food then go back to the office where the rest of the day was calm.

When Spencer was ready to go back home he got a call from Max.

"Hey there" he said holding his bag.

"Hey, how was your day?"

"It was pretty good, a normal office day it's a weird thing here at the FBI. What about you?" He was pushing the button of the elevator. 

"Busy... can we meet at the coffee shop? I have to tell you something"

"Sure, see you in... um... ten minutes?"

"Perfect, see you"

He wondered what she wanted to tell him that were so important and cannot wait. He drives and in ten minutes he was at their usual 'coffee date' place.

When he walked in, she was already at the line to order coffee.

"Hey Max" he smiled and walked toward her.

"Oh hey" she hugged him and kissed his cheek gently, they have not openly kissed in public yet "glad you arrived, I was about to order for you too"

He nodded and she ordered their coffee and then went to pick them up. They added their cream and sugar then walked to a table.

"Ok what did you want to talk about?" He asked drinking some of his coffee.

"Right... um... do you remember that job opportunity at the Smithsonian?" He nodded "well they called yesterday. They want me to prepare a class for some autistic children" he smiled at her.

"That's amazing, Max!"

"I know right?! I'm super nervous, the class will be this Sunday. I spent the day searching information and preparing the class" she bit her lip "can you help me with something?"

"Of course anything"

"Can you read it and tell me if I'm doing fine? It just you use psychology and I bet you know more than me about them"

"Sure I can, did you bring it?" She nodded, get it out of her purse and handed it to him.

He read it quickly and smiled at her "it's perfect. The autistic child had various characteristics and I think this class it's perfect for them. Make sure to do it in a place with a good acoustic so your voice can be listened and doesn't bother them. Always talk with a calm voice and if they go into... um... their own mind use a light touch to bring them back. Ok?"

She nodded taking some notes "thank you Spencer" she leans in a kissed him gently "and if I have more questions I can call you right?" 

"Of course. But I think you will do it just perfectly. I was wondering if, after this, the Saturday night date will still happening"

"Yes, that's why I'm doing this today and maybe tomorrow. We are on Thursday so I still have tomorrow after my class at the school" he smiled and looked at his cup.

"You know I am a man of science no an artist, right?"

"Yes, I'm fully aware of that. But I also know that anyone can paint. And it doesn't matter if you do a Piccaso or a three years-old scribble. I will still love it because you made an effort" she smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back.

"You are really sweet, let's see what I end up doing" he laughed gently and drank more.

"You will do it really good" she smiled and checked her watch "oh I have to leave, Michelle invited me to go her house" she looked at him "see you on Saturday?"

"Of course, enjoy your dinner with your sister" he smiled at her and they both stood up. They both hugged each other and them she left. 

He looked as she got in her car and drove to her sister's house, then he walked to his apartment. 

Saturday will be an interesting challenge for his scientific brain. Let's see how it goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? I am kind of a nerd so I will try to make him paint something nerdy like... some quantum physics theory or something from Doctor Who or Star Trek.
> 
> I do not know, if you have some other ideas I would like you to comment them. I am always open to new ideas.
> 
> Thank you for read.


	6. The portrait, the winner and the loser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone told me that Spencer actually was good drawing so I played it out a little here. Hope you like it.

It was Saturday and Spencer could not be more nervous. He did not want to mess up their date and he was not clear yet about what to paint. 

He was wearing a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt. He put on a dark blue tie and sighs looking at him in the mirror. Then he brushed his hair as much as he could and texted Max to let her know he will pick her up in fifteen minutes.

Then he walked out of his house, went downstairs and to his car. He stopped by a flower shop to buy her some flowers. He picked roses. And continued his way to her apartment. 

When he arrived he walked out the car and in the building where he reached her apartment and knocked the door.

She opened it and smiled when she saw the flowers "Aww thank you Spencer, they are beautiful" she holded the flowers and moved a finger to him so he got closer and she kissed him gently "you are so sweet" she whispered before going to her kitchen to get a pot with water for her flowers.

"I'm glad you liked them. I haven't figured out your favorite flowers yet so I brought roses"

"I love any kind of flowers so you can bring whichever you want and I will love them" she holds her purse. She was wearing black jeans, a white blouse and over it her black leather jacket. She decided to use high heel for this date because she always felt to small next to him.

And even with them she still looked short. He offered his arm to her to hold like a gentleman "oh my handsome knight, thank you" she teased him as she holds his arm.

"You are welcome my beautiful princess" he followed the tease and she laughed softly.

They walked out of her apartment and goes downstairs to his car after she closed the door.

When they arrived to the car he opened the door for her "milady" he imitated an English accent and she laughed softly before getting in, then he closed the door and got in the car.

He turned it on and looked at her "ok Max I need the address to get there" she nodded and handed him her phone with the address.

"Got it Spence?".

"Yeah" he answered and handed her the phone. He buckled up his seatbelt and drove there. They were in silence for some minutes until he asked "did you finish your class for tomorrow?"

"Yes, I used the advices you gave me and I'm pretty sure it will be go perfectly" she smiled as she said so.

"Amazing and I'm so proud of you. I'm sure you will do it great"

"Why thank you" she blushed at that "they said I can invite someone and I was wondering if you would like to go with me"

"Sure I would love to" he smiled and added "but I gotta ask.... will you do it like yourself if I'm there? Because people do a different perform when they are with that significant other or their family"

"Yeah I will. When I'm teaching my attention is to my students not my surround"

"Ok perfect because I wouldn't forgive myself if you didn't get it because of me" he said as they arrived to the restaurant. He drove to the valet parking and he handled the car to the guy there and went to help Max out.

The guy gave him a ticket as he held her hand gentle "are you ok?" She asked when they walked away.

"Yes it just... I saw so many unsub that sometimes I had doubts about people around me. One of the bad things about this job is the evil vs good battle" 

She squeezed his hand softly "it's ok Spencer. I understand and I know it's hard to deal with them. I still have nightmares with Cat" 

"That's normal. After a traumatic experience. But you will forget it soon" he assured her then they realized they were standing in the middle of the bar's door. They laughed and walked in. She handed their tickets to the waiter. He checked them and led them to a table.

The table had the equipment to paint, bottles of colors, canvas for each one, painting brushes and more.

Spencer was watching all on the table as the waiter walked to them.

"What can I get you to drink? Also you can order some food" 

"Water please" said Spencer looking at Max.

"I want a cup of wine but hold on sir" she looked at the waiter then at Spencer "can you have a cup just for a toast? I can't drink to much because I have the class tomorrow so... we drink a sip or two and then order water" she looked at him.

"Ok I can do it but if we are going to drink so little why don't ask for a smaller amount of wine in each cup?" He looked at the waiter.

"Sure we can fill both cups with half the wine we usually put in"

"Perfect then thank you" the waiter walked away to get there order "hey I was thinking. What about we make a bet" he looked at her with interest "what about if we don't see each other painting and ask the instructor to pick the best. The winner will pick our next date" she smirks feeling the winner after what he said two days ago.

Spencer kept his poker face "you know I'm from Vegas right?" She nodded "I just lost 2 times a bet and it was against JJ and Emily" he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure of my odds this time" she looked at her with a serious face "and I will raise the prize, the loser will also will do whatever the winner wants" 

Spencer, still with an unreadable poker face, said "ok I accept the bet" he extended his hand toward her to shake her hand closing the deal.

Then when the rest of the people arrived and the waiter brought the two cups with half of the wine and two glass of water for them.

"For our first night time date and for most to come" she said and smiled at him.

He repeated her toast and smiled back then the clink their cups and drink some of the wine. Then they put their cups apart.

The class started with the instructor giving his name, Emmanuel, and the instruction they have to follow. He ordered them to turn off their phone and put them in a basket with their name. Then they started to paint.

Spencer was so competitive that he was capable of doing a portrait of them the day they met. His amazing memory helped him to work on his painting without any effort. Max looked at him from the corner of her eyes and was getting worry because he was so focused that may her think the genius man would make her think he was not good to trick her.

When the class was about to end he finished his work and so did Max.

"Are you done?" She asked.

"Yes and you?" She nodded "want to call the instructor to come over?" She bit her lip nervous. 

He was good with his poker face, surely he was from Vegas "sure I will" she said keeping her straight face and moved her hand in the instructor's direction. 

The man walked towards them "is everything ok lady?" She nodded and explained their bet and if he could judge their paintings "well the purpose of this event is for entertainment and relax but I guess if you decided this, it was part of your entertainment so... let's see those paintings"

Max was first, she made a beautiful painting of the park where she met Spencer. It has the place where they bought the pretzels next to the place they play with the sprinklers. At the very bottom was coffee truck where they met after he arrived from the hospital. 

"It's beautiful and I like all the colors you used, let's see your partner's but it's hard competition"

Then Spencer showed him his painting. And when Max saw it, she held her breath and cover her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were filled with tears. 

Before hers and the instructor's eyes was a perfectly accurate portrait of them the day they met. They were perfectly made and with the right amount of light and dark, the color of their clothes, everything. 

"Spencer..." she looked at him in shock and he smirks with a little bit of arrogance "...you cheater..." she said under her breath and smirked rubbing her eyes.

"Excuse me?" He looked at her smiling. 

"I had to admit this is quite impressive. Are you an artist?" 

"No"

"Well with this painting I couldn't believe it. Anyway... we have a winner... sir you won" he patted Spencer's back softly "you have so much talent" he smiled and let the couple alone.

She looked at him in awe "I thought you said you didn't know how to paint"

"I'm a quick study" he smirked "did you like it?"

"Of course I did... it's gorgeous and well done" 

"I was inspired" he looked at her and she blushed.

"You are lucky to be so cute or I would totally slapped you for... not just let me make me make a bet against you but also because you accepted it" she rolled her eyes and laughed gently.

He laughs too and held her hand "I'm a very competitive person and I couldn't say no. I don't know call it the Vegas DNA" she laughed more "whatever... now you have to do what I want and I know some nice place we can go" he smiled.

"You are enjoying this, aren't you?" He nodded drinking his water.

The instructor wrapped up the event and said that he was thankful for everyone who were there. He saw some great paintings and he was proud of their job. Everyone clapped at him and the people stood up ready for leaving. 

He also said they could take the painting with them. So Spencer held his and Max's "I was thinking about going for a proper dinner" he looked at her.

"Sounds great, I'm starving" she put on her jacket and purse "where are we going?"

"There's a good place a few blocks away from here"

"Awesome, let's go" she smiled and wrapped an arm around his. Then they walked out the bar where the event took place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is this interesting date I imagined a bit different when I first thought about it but while I was writing this all just come to me and I think it was pretty cool. 
> 
> I would like some ideas for Spencer asking her to finally asked her to be his girlfriend. I wanted to do it here but, as I said, my plans were changed as I was writing. 
> 
> Comment me your idea and I will totally considered. Thank you again for reading this story.


	7. Jealous

The valley parking guy brought back his car to the bar's door, Spencer opened the passenger door for her and then he put their paintings on the backseat, he got in and drove to the restaurant. 

When they arrived he parked the car and went to open the door for her. She liked his chivalry and when he offered his arm for her to hold it.

She had to admit this was the first guy who did this to her, at least this much. They walked in and the waiter led them to a table next to an elderly couple.

The restaurant was Italian so they both picked a plate of pasta, Spencer wanted the bologna sauce and Max ordered the carbonara sauce. 

While they waited they talked and laughed softly. Then the food arrived and both eat. They were starving so there was not a pause to talk very much.

He asked her if she wanted a dessert but she was full. Maybe a takeaway one could be better, then while he headed to pay Max walked to the bathroom. 

In there was the elderly woman washing her hands. Max did the same and refreshed some of her makeup.

The woman next to her sighed "fifty wedding anniversary, can you believe it?" Said her looking in the mirror.

"That's pretty impressive. My longest relationship was 2 years" said Max looking at her.

"And how long have you been with that handsome man you were with at the table?"

"Oh Spencer and I aren't a couple. We are taking things slowly"

"I see... but be careful honey. He is very handsome and if you don't catch him with both hands firmly, you may lose him" said the woman looking at her "and I know you like him a lot, I can see it in your eyes" she blushed softly looking down.

"Ok thank you for your advice" the woman smiled and leave her thinking.

Meanwhile Spencer was paying when the elderly man arrived and stood next to him "today I celebrated my fifty wedding anniversary"

"Congratulations sir, I hope I would be that lucky to expend my life with someone that long"

"I'm sure your girlfriend will be that person"

"Oh no... s...she isn't my girlfriend, she want us to take this slowly, I understand that past experiences may make people reject a new one because they don't want to screw it up"

"Oh boy, I know you don't ask it but I will give you an advice. You need to make the bold move to ask her to be your girlfriend. She is beautiful and you don't know if, by taking things slowly, you ended up losing her for someone bolder"

Spencer looked at the man and nodded "thank you sir, I will think about it" the elderly man nodded and smiled then his wife walked by and kissed his cheek softly.

"Haven't you pay yet?"

"No the young man just finished" he said while Spencer got back his card from the cashier "good night boy"

"Good night sir, ma'am" he looked at the woman and she smiled.

Then he walked away to wait for Max, he was thinking about what the man said to him. He was right about it, but he was also worried that Max will get upset about it. 

When she arrived they both headed to his car. Neither of them mentioned the elderly couple's words for them. Max asked him to take her back to her apartment so she could study a little then went to sleep.

He did as she told him and when they arrived to her place he stopped in front of it.

"Max" he said turning off the car and⁸ like to keep the painting I made" he looked at her.

"I would love to Spencer but only if you keep mine" she said looking at him.

"It would be an honor to have it" they both smiled and he reached the painting to her and she held it. She leaned in and kissed him gently then got out of the car and walked to the door. He stayed there until he was sure she was in. 

Then he drove back home. When he got in he put the painting on the table. He will buy a framework so he can hang the painting properly. 

Then changed into some comfortable clothes and lay down falling asleep almost immediately.

The next day he put on a short sleeve white shirt with black pants and his black jacket. He has to be at the Smithsonian at a quarter to eight, it was just seven o'clock so he ate a sandwich with his coffee then went to his car and drove there.

When he was parking she called him "hey Spencer, where are you?"

"I'm parking" he said turning off the car.

"Oh ok. I'm at the main building, at the auditorium" 

"Ok perfect see you there" he finished the call and walked there. On his way there a woman stopped him.

"Doctor Reid?" She said.

He stopped and looked at her "yes, who are you?"

"I'm Veronica Smith. I'm the director of the art program of the museum. When I was in charge of the program for kids with disabilities I invited you here for a lecture about the art and the persons with disabilities"

"Oh yeah I remember. It was when I wasn't an active agent at the FBI two years ago"

"Right. I'm still grateful for that, because you open the eyes of our executives and the parents of those children to bring them here and learn art"

He smiles and nods "it's always a pleasure to help. Psychology is a huge area to help people to understand the impact of some activities in our emotions and knowledge"

She nodded and smiled "I'm totally agree..."

Meanwhile Max decided to walk out of the auditorium to look for him when she saw him talking to this woman. Immediately her mind when to what the elderly woman said last night.

'...but be careful honey. He is very handsome and if you don't catch him with both hands firmly, you may lose him'

And she felt jealous, she usually was not a jealous person but her relationship and her feelings for Spencer were different. 

She decided to walk over to them, her body language could tell everyone that she was upset but her face was calm "oh hello Spencer, I was looking for you"

"H-hey Max" he could tell her voice was not her normal self and he could tell she was jealous "this is Veronica, your soon-to-be boss" he said the last part in a subtle warning tone.

She understood and relaxed "oh so you are Doctor Smith, right?"

"Yes and you are Maxine Brenner. One of candidates, I didn't know you and Spencer were friends" she bit her lip and just nodded. She cannot correct her because they are not a formal couple "well it was good to see you, Doctor Reid. I hope you could come over and give more lectures for our community"

He nodded "sure I would love to" he smiled and looked as she left then turned to Max who was looking down playing with her hands "hey you ok?"

"Y-yeah... j-just let's go" she said and walked back to the auditorium. She was ashamed of her attitude, this was not her. She must really have deeper feelings for him than she thought. Because she did not feel like this when she saw him kissing Cat, even though that was a hot kiss, but now just saw him talking with a woman with executive clothes make her jealous. 

He walked in the auditorium following her "Max, where do you want me to sit?" He asked when they reached the stage.

"At the first row. Somewhere I could see you" he nodded and moved her to the backstage.

"Max, relax you will do it alright. You are a good teacher and I'm sure you will nail it" she nodded looking at him.

"Thank you and I'm sorry I didn't know what happened to me" he looked at her "and don't you dare profile me Spencer" he lifted his hands like saying 'I haven't say anything' and she runs her hand into her hair "we will talk after the conference" he nodded.

"Ok" he leaned in and kissed her cheek gently and left to sit where she told him.

The class started and he could see lot of mothers and their children taking note and the kids painting as Max was explaining to them. He smiled at that and she looked relaxed and happy teaching them.

He took some notes and saw her looking at him now and then. When he saw her looking at him, he just gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her.

After an hour the class was over and they clapped at Max. Then some mothers walked towards her to thanked her for the class, their children enjoyed it.

He smiled and when they were alone he helped her picked her things up. Veronica walked over at her and congratulated her. She told her, to plan a class for the blind kids. Because the Smithsonian had groups with different levels of the same disability. This was just the autistic children then the blind children and much more, so they have to test if someone can plan for all of them.

Max nodded and thanked for the opportunity and promised to do her best then Veronica left.

"Oh God... that was a surprised twist" she looked at him "thank you for coming Spence" she held his hand gentle.

"It's ok I'm glad you invited me here. I'm happy to see these kids learning something that will help them no just with their abilities but also to socialize" he smiled at her "do you want to visit the museum? JJ said she will bring her children her today"

"Sounds like fun" she smiled and they both were to leave her stuffs in her car and then went back in the museum. Then they met with JJ and her kids. Will was busy that weekend so it was just her with the kids and Spencer with Max.

"So you are my God father's girlfriend" said Henry matter-of-fact. 

"Henry..." said JJ rolling her eyes.

"Um... he isn't my boyfriend" she said looking at him "but I was wondering... do you think we look good together?" She asked in a whisper just for him.

"Yes I do" he smiled at her and she smiled back.

Max and the kids where looking to a painting and she was explaining some stuffs to them. Meanwhile JJ and Spencer looked at them.

"So are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?" Asked JJ.

"Yes. But she kept saying she want us to go slowly and then today she looked at me talking to woman and got jealous"

"That's a good sign Spence. It means she has deeper feelings for you and is afraid to lose you. So you should totally ask her to be your girlfriend"

He looked at her and smiled "you think so?"

She laughed "yes I do, go for her. You aren't the same shy kid I met when we started at the BAU and I'm sure you are more secure" she patted his arm.

"Thank you JJ" he wrapped an arm on her shoulders softly.

"Oh and by the way, Will wanted us to go with him this Christmas to New Orleans. His family want to see the children"

"Sounds like fun" he smiled as he saw Michael and Henry having a good time with Max "they love her"

"She is a great person and complements you" he nodded.

They stayed at the museum until noon then they went to buy some hotdogs and sodas. The kids played at the park while the adults chatted about random things.

After a while JJ and the kids left and leave them alone. 

"JJ is great" said Max while they walked to her car.

"Yes she is. We became best friends almost immediately after we met. She was the first person who collected me Spence. Then it became common, especially Emily and other members of the team but mostly JJ" she smiled at him.

"She most feel really close to you to named you godfather of her children" 

"Yes she does. It sometimes shocks me because, we both work at the same place and we both have the same odds to die at any time. And the common thought is that the godfather will watch over his godchildren if their fathers die"

"She most feel like you have more possibilities to survive than her"

"Could be" they reached to her car "um... by the way I wanted to talk to you about what happened today" she sighed.

"Spencer it was just..."

"A jealous moment?" She looked up at him.

"I told you not to profile me"

"I can't help it. It's like a second nature for me" she leaned on her car "what I wanted to say is..." he took a deep breath "Max, will you be my girlfriend?" She looked at him in shock. She did not expected him to ask her that. Especially after what happened "yesterday an elderly man who was next to us told me to ask you to by me girlfriend because there could be any guy. With a less risky job that could catch your attention and make you forget about me so I'm taking a leap of faith and ask you. Even when you wanted things slowly..."

"Spencer...?"

"Yes?"

"Just shut up and kiss me" he took it as a yes and just did what she said. He kissed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok that's all for this chapter. Hope you liked it. 
> 
> I am placing this few chapters in the late October and November. 
> 
> Maybe after a Christmas chapter where he spend it with her family maybe even he will introduce her his mother, I will do a time jump to the events of episodes 9 and 10.


	8. Almost Christmas

Chapter 8: Almost Christmas.

The B.A.U had a case in New York. JJ was not there because she left to New Orleans to spend the Christmas with Will's family.

Spencer and some other members of the team asked, after finished the case, to stay in the city for a few hours. 

Emily allowed it and said they must be at the hotel in an hour to take the bus to the airport.

Spencer walked around with Luke and Matt while Rossi y Emily stayed at the hotel. 

"Are you going to buy a present for Lisa?" asked Matt.

Luke looked down "No, she will be working and we aren't good"

"Oh man, that sucks" said Matt.

"Yeah. I got the feeling she might broke up with me"

Matt patted his shoulder "if that happened you have us, right Spencer?"

He nodded "of course, we are a family" he smiled at him "how is Rosemary going?"

"She's amazing, so different from her siblings" said Matt "she sleeps more" he laughs "and how are things with Max?"

"Great, she asked me to spend Christmas with her family" 

"That's important man" Luke said "when a woman wants you to spend a holiday with her family it's because she sees a future with you"

"I remember when I met Kristy's family. It was really awkward cuz he was part of the marines and he was a huge man. And with his gun ready to shoot me"

Both men laughed softly "you are here which means he didn't kill you. Unless you are a ghost" commented Luke.

"At the end of the night we were drunk and singing country songs" they both laugh and reached a Macy's and walked in.

Matt went to the children department, Luke went to the pets department and Spencer to the art supplement department. 

He wanted to buy her an art kit, she mentioned she wanted one for her work at the Smithsonian but the one perfect for her was too expensive. So he thought he could buy it for her. He was well paid because of his three Ph.Ds.

He remembered her saying the name of the kit so he looked for it. When he found it he got it then buy a present for his mother and thought to buy something for Sammy but then remembered Max asked to buy presents together for her family.

Before Spencer knew they have a case, Max called to see him at the coffee shop to talk and she wanted to show him some changes she made for her program for blind kids.

"It's perfect, so don't worry. The only problem with them is that they don't know how look green. Especially the kids that were born blind. Because if hey could see before and after an accident they ended up blind could be different"

"Ok, I understand" she took notes "Oh, by the way... um... my dad wanted me to invite you to our Christmas' party" she said biting her lip "it's a tradition, he likes to invite us and our boyfriends or in Michelle's case her husband and child. You don't have to go if you don't want to... we can spend New Year. I know you maybe want to be with your mom and..."

He smiled softly "Max?"

"Yes?"

"I would like to go" her face was of release "in fact I would prefer to meet your dad and sister at Christmas than after a kidnap" she nodded.

"G...good... um... can we go buy them presents together? We exchange presents at 12 after dinner" she looked at him.

"Sure. Maybe on Christmas day we can go to my mom's hospital. I want you to meet her" she smiled and kissed him gently.

Then he got a call that they have a case. They said their goodbyes and he leaves.

But he decided to buy Sammy a present since he was so nice to him and he was the reason he and Max are dating.

He brought him a magic set. It was the one he once used to leard magic tricks. 

After he played texted Luke and Matt to let them know he will go to check other stores.

He wanted to give Max something else, so he decided to check the Metropolitan museum and buy two tickets valid for a month.

He then checked his phone and realized it was almost time to go back to the hotel so he called a taxi and tell him the address of his hotel.

When he arrived he went up and got his suitcase. Then he went down and there were Rossi and Emily.

"Wow Spence I'm surprised to got a lot of things"

"Actually I just have 3 presents here. A dress for my mother, an art kit for Max and a magic set for Sammy, her nephew"

"That's so sweet of you" said Emily.

"Also got two tickets for the Metropolitan museum for us. We can come any day for a month"

"A very nice gift too. I got Krystall her favorite martini liquor and a pair of earrings"

"I brought Andrew a new helmet for his bike and his favorite after lotion, which is also my favorite" she smiled.

"Love is in the air" said Luke teasing them.

"What did you got for your girl?" Asked Emily.

"A box of her favorite snacks and a new toy" Rossi and Emily looked confused "Roxy needs her treats too" they roll their eyes but they could tell that something was not right because him and his girlfriend so they did not continue the questions.

Then they focused on Matt "what did you get?"

"I brought clothes for Rosemary and my other four kids. They needed something new for Christmas so I got them something. The toys are their mother's duty" he laughed softly "I got Kristy a new pair of earrings and a matching necklace"

"That's amazing" said Emily as their official cars arrived. They went to the airport where the jet was waiting and before they took off each text their couple to let them know they are on their way home.

The next day the bureau announced the vacations period and they leave for two weeks.

Emily left to Denver, Luke went to Florida to be with his family. Matt and his family stayed in Washington as well as Spencer.

A day before Christmas Max was helping him decorate his house. She wanted him to have some Christmas spirit.

"So after this we should go to buy our presents" she said while decorate the Christmas tree "I think I saw a nice present for you"

"I already got you present" he announced while he walked towards her holding two cups of coffee and some cookies she bought from Michelle. 

"Oh really? Where?"

"New York. I saw something that reminds me to you and I brought it"

"Well, well, well... Doctor Reid is full of surprises huh?" She smiled "now I'm very curious what you got me"

"I'm pretty sure you will love it" he smiled "also I got something for Sammy. I know we promised to but your family's presents together but he made it possible we met so it's the less I can do for him" he ate a cookie after that.

"You are so sweet and kind with him" she stood up and kissed him gently "what did you get him?" She asked rubbing his cheek.

"A magic set" he smiled looking into her eyes. They faces were close.

"I thought you would buy it to him" she laughed "I'm sure he will love it" she ran her hand into his hair gently "we better finish this" she moved away and he looked at her.

He just walked to help her finishes to put the decorations and when the tree was done they connected it and the lights were on.

"It looks great. Thank you Max" he hugs her from behind and kisses her cheek.

"You are welcome" she smiled turning around to wrapped her arms around his neck "Spencer... I know we are just starting and I know I asked to take things slowly but honestly I never felt this happy in a long time. You are a proper gentleman, you respect me and you treat me great, you protect me... even from your own demons and I wish you could have the confidence to tell me, honey... you won't push me away" she played with his hair.

"I know and I'm sure the deeper we went into our relationship, I will feel more comfortable"

"You can trust me" she kissed him softly while he wrapped his arms around her moving her closer.

They kissed some more until they broke it to catch their breath.

She sighed looking in his eyes. She wanted to go further but was not sure yet. She tried to move away but he stopped her.

"What happened to you that you want to take things slowly?" He looked at her "because my reasons are the things I had to see at work. I don't want to tell you all the details because, I still have nightmares. But you... what happened?" He asked again.

"Mike Davis... I really wanted it to work. We dated for two years and we went fast. We had a few dates, we kissed almost immediately, we had sex shortly after that. We even moved in together. But then the magic stopped. He stopped being nice and treated me bad. He cheated with everyone. My dad was right. Beside him I always picked good boyfriends. Mike hurted me and I'm afraid that happened because we did things to fast"

"Max... baby" it was almost a whisper and the first time he called her that. She liked it "I would never do that to you. I'm respecting your choices and I won't hurt you the way he did. You deserve happiness and when you are ready to take all those steps. I will take them with you"

She had some tears in her eyes and smiled at him "Thank you Spencer. I'm so happy we met and to be with you" she hugs him placing her head on his chest.

He rubbed her back gently "you are so important to me and I don't want to lose you" he looked down at her. After some more minutes she stopped to cry but did not break their hug "we should go to buy the presents. Tomorrow I can't because Michelle got Eloise and me a reservation to an exclusive beauty saloon and I don't think we will see each other until the night when we have to leave for my dad's house"

"Ok then let's go. It's getting late" he said as she, reluctantly, broke the hug then went to get her jacket and put it on. Spencer also put on his jacket and holds her hand walking out his apartment "so where to?"

"We could go to a new mall center. They have lot of stores and we will find just exactly what we want for them"

"Awesome, you tell me where is it" she nodded then they both got into the car and Spencer followed her instructions and arrived to the mall.

He parked his car. It was full of cars. They both got out of the car, he held her hand as they walked in the mall.

"Ok I think ladies first. Theres this store Michelle and Eloise love. It's on the second floor. They have clothes and accessories for that clothes. I would like something for them" 

"Sure no problem. Let's go there" they both walked to the store she wanted to go. There she checked some clothes for her sisters. At the end she picked a cute light green dress for Michelle and a striped blouse.

Then she wanted to go to get something for her dad and Michelle's husband. 

"They like sports" she looked around thinking.

"Sports are out of my experience, Max" he looked at her.

"Could be a jersey but I'm not sure their teams. My dad was born and raised in Virginia and Phill is from here so maybe the Nationals?"

"It's up to you... but I think it could be better if we bought them a ball of some kind of sport. For example if they prefer football over baseball, we can brought them a football" he suggested.

"I like it... ok... um... Phill loves football so I will get him a ball and my dad loves basketball so I can buy him one of those" she looked up and him "you are a truly genius" she teased.

He made a sarcastic laugh "very funny... Maxine" he smirked "ouch!" She hit him playfully and he faked being hurt.

"Let's go Spencie. I want to buy a present for Sammy as well... and for you" she said the last part under her breath. 

He listened but decided not to speak. They walked in the store and they got a football and a basketball for those two men and after pay Max looked at him "ok Spencer. Now I will go to get your present and Sammy's"

"Why I can't be there to get his present?"

"Because I will go to the same store to buy both and if you are there, you will find out" she said "so stay here. I will be here soon. Drink something. Check out other stores I don't know"

"Ok just because you asked"

"Good" she smiled and left him. She walked to the store she wanted to go.

She had been thinking about what to give to him. He is a genius so she cannot give him books. He has the classics, he has all the psychology, sociology, philosophy books ever made, he has everything his mind can use. He even has books in other languages. He has El Quijote in Spanish, he has books in Russian, Korean.

So intellectually she cannot give him something new. She decided to give him something that will be better for him.

Something she made. Max found in the mall a place to design your own t-shirts. You bought a white one, and threw paint on it until you are satisfied. Then they kept it to let the paint dry and then they gave it an special treatment to protect the design. 

It is something special because she made it but also something they both can enjoy. She loved his dress shirts, ties and suits they looked perfect on him and made him look really handsome but she want him to relax with her so when they have a relax date she will ask him to were this.

She paid for it and got it wrapped up then walked to buy Sammy her gift. She wanted her nephew to improve his abilities to paint so she bought him a little paint kit and color books specials for a twelve years old. 

After that she left to walked back to where she left Spencer. When she arrived she saw him talking to an old man.

She smiled and walked towards them "hey Spence"

"Oh hey Max. This is Daniel Collins. A former FBI agent. He was part of the negotiations team"

"Nice to meet you sir" she smiled "I'm Max, Spencer's girlfriend"

"Nice to meet you young lady. Well I will let you both enjoy the rest of the day. See you around Spencer" he stood up and left them.

Then Max took the seat he was using "ok I bought the two presents"

"Perfect I ordered a coffee for you but I told the guy there I will get it later because you weren't here yet"

"Thank you" she kisses his cheek and walked to told the guy how she wanted her coffee then returned to their table.

They talked some about the FBI agent she just met. How he started to talk to him.

Then they both returned to his apartment "so I was thinking if I left my family's presents here and I will just take with me your present. Because I also think it's better to just go in your car"

"I'm agree. I will left then under my tree and you will call me when you are ready?"

"Yes. I will be almost all the morning in the saloon and then I will go to my apartment and get dressed"

"Ok perfect see you tomorrow" they kissed and she got out the car and he did the same. Then his eyes followed her until she got in hers and until she did not leave he did not move.

When her car was out of sight he got the presents and went upstairs to his apartment. 

He put them under his tree and went to change and laid in bed. He waited for her text saying she arrived to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to just have a Christmas chapter but the next will be the actual Christmas eve and Christmas day.
> 
> This one was more focused in developing their relationship with that conversation. Hope you liked and we will read in the next chapter.


	9. The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

Chapter 9: The most wonderful day of the year.

The next day started with a busy Max going to the saloon with her sisters.

There she got a full spa treatment, she painted her nails and done her hair. 

They talked about stuffs to do for their night. Their father liked to play board games so they wanted to have some of his favorites. 

"What about we play poker?" Asked Eloise "dad loves car games"

"I... don't think it's a good idea" said Max remembered what JJ told her about Spencer. 

"Why?" Asked Michelle.

"Because Spencer is from Vegas and he can play"

"Oh come on Max. Do you remember Rick? My ex boyfriend? Well he was from Vegas and couldn't play monopoly... I'm sure we will be fine"

Max sighed and just nodded "it's your choice" she looked at her sisters "By the way Eloise, is your boyfriend going?"

"Yes but he has to leave early because his father want to spend some time with him"

"Ohk it's ok. Sadly he won't be for the presents"

"Yeah but he will go tomorrow morning"

"Spencer wanted me to meet his mom tomorrow so maybe we will go to my dad's house later".

"You guys are going fast" teased Michelle. 

"Don't be silly Michelle. He met my dad after his team saved him from that crazy bitch. He told me he never thought he could meet him like that"

"Yeah it was a very bad situation to meet someone" said Eloise. 

"But you both managed that pretty well" 

"Yeah but still was a horrible situation that I hope never happened again" both sisters nodded.

After some more hours there, the three sisters left to eat them the older and younger sisters left to their dad's house to finish the dinner.

While Max went to get the dessert. She ordered an apple pie and bought icecream for it.

She texted her sisters and drove to her apartment to get ready.

Meanwhile Spencer picked one of his favorite suits, black dress pants and jacked, and a white shirt with a black tie. Then called Morgan and JJ to wish them a happy holiday.

At night he took a shower and shaves then got dressed and texted Max to asked at what time he can pick her up.

Her answer was that he could pick her up at eight. When it was seven thirty he started to get all the presents, even the ones he got for her and Sammy, to his car.

Then he drove to her apartment and called her. When she answer "hey, I'm here"

"Ok can you come in? I need some help"

"Sure" he hung up, got out of the car and walked to the door. He went upstairs to her apartment and knocked the door.

When Max opened it, Spencer's jaw almost hit the floor. She was wearing a black dress, with a v-neck and a little above her knees with high heels, not enough to match his height but enough to at least kiss him without tiptoeing.

She smirks with the speechless 3-time Doctor in front of her "Are you going to come in or just stand there until midnight?" She laughed when he realized he was just staring at her.

"You look stunning" he rubbed the back of his neck as he walked in and wrapped an arm around her.

"Well thank you Spencer. You look very handsome yourself" he leans in an kisses her softly.

"Thank you but this is my normal self, wearing suits. This is the first time I saw you wearing a dress"

"I love how those suits look on you so I will always enjoy them" she smiled looking at him blushing "I will need you to help me with the icecream. I will get the pie for the dinner tonight" he nodded and walked to the kitchen with her.

He held the icecream and she had the pie. Then the couple walked to the living room, Max got her purse and her present for Spencer and and both headed out of the apartment. 

"Are you nervous to see my dad again?" She asked as they walked.

"Yeah. I'm worry he might hate me after what happened with Cat"

"He doesn't. He likes you very much" she smiled.

"Good, I'm happy to know that" they reached the car and he managed to open the door to put in the icecream where it will not damaged the presents, then he opened the door for Max.

When she was in he walked to his side and gets in "ok as usual lead me to your Dad's house" 

She nodded and when he turned on the car she told him the address and he drove there. Listening to some instructions Max gave him.

When they arrived, Spencer was stunned by the big house. It was a Victorian, two story high house and with a big garden.

"Wow... this place is amazing"

"Yeah it is" she smiled then he parked the car "Spencer. Thank you again for being here. This is something special we share as family and I'm glad we could share it together"

"You are welcome Max and I hope we have more of this together" she smiled and kisses him rubbing his cheek "you are amazing" she whispered on his lips.

"So are you" he smiled and then they broke away and started to get the things out the car. Max's brother-in-law Phill ran towards them to help them just like Eloise boyfriend. 

Between the four of them were able to take the things inside. They put the presents under the tree with their names on the bag just like the others did. Meanwhile Max with Eloise's boyfriend took the pie and icecream in the fridge. 

Then she greeted her father and sisters. Sammy was not around, he was playing with the neighbor's children.

Max made the proper instructions to the family members that don't know him. He introduced as Spencer Reid, not doctor or agent. 

He wanted to be just him tonight not a federal agent. They played monopoly and others board games.

Then Michelle proposed to play poker. Of course Spencer accepted, Max asked to be the dealer. She did not want any problem so the make sure the cards where well mixed so nobody could be upset if something weird happened. 

They were using M&M's to bet. Spencer used his poker face. His dad looked very compromised with the game.

At the last call. They all showed their cards. As usually Spencer won. He got a full. All if them were in shock.

"How...?" Asked Don looking at his cards.

"I got banned of lots of casinos in Vegas because I used math to play poker" he said eating a M&M "just two people in the BAU won me. JJ and Emily, my boss"

Eloise and Michelle looked at Max like they will kill her "Hey... I warned you. He is good no play poker with him"

"You never told us that" said Michelle.

"And ruined the experience of seen you be beating by Spence?" She smirked. 

"You..." Eloise said "you are evil" 

"May be" she stood up and held his hand "come here" she said making him stand up and walked to dance a slow song that was playing on the radio.

"So you didn't tell them about my ability with poker, huh?"

"No, I wanted to see them against you with their full confidence and thinking they could beat you"

"Umm ok" he looked at her.

"And I wanted them to see how awesome my boyfriend could be" her arms are around his and she played with his hair gently "I wanted to know why you were banned"

He laughed "so you wanted to show off your boyfriend" he said with a smirk "and you were curious to know why I can't get in some casino in Vegas" she bit her lip and nodded, that made him laugh.

"Don't laughs at me baby" she said in a whisper.

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because I found funny the situation" he leans and kissed her "you are adorable and I would never laugh at you" 

Meanwhile the rest of the family see them talking and dancing or just moving around pretending to dance.

"What do you think of him dad?" Asked Eloise.

"I told him when we met at the FBI that he was boyfriend material for Max. The only bad one was Mike"

"Well they seem in love" now commented Michelle. 

"Don't use that word in front of Max. She wants to take things slow" Eloise added.

"I won't use it in front of her but they are in love already so what's the point of hiding it?"

"Max is stubborn and she won't admit it until she can't hide it anymore" the two sisters were agree with his dad's statement. 

Back with Max and Spencer, the song has ended and they stayed there into each other's arms until they decided to break the embrace and walked back to the living room were her dad was with Eloise.

"Spencer I was wondering when you started to work at the FBI" said Don when he sat down while Max walked into the kitchen to check on her sister.

"Almost sixteen years ago, sir" he nodded.

"You look pretty young. How old are you?"

"I'm 38"

"Wow so you started at 23, right?"

"Yes, my former boss wanted me there because I was excellent in the profiling course so he wanted me in the BAU. He was like a father to me and helped me be the man and professional I am today"

"That's great. I think it's amazing how a young boy like you could accomplished so much"

"It wasn't easy. At first I failed my shooting test every time I took it. One time they took away my gun and to defeat an unsub, I have to use my supervisor's second gun. It was a lucky shoot but I saved us and the hostages"

"Amazing!" said both Eloise and Don.

"Yeah but then I got better with it and now I have the highest score"

"See? Practice make perfection" said Don to Eloise, when the father looked Spencer's confused face he added "she is studying to be a lawyer but she keep failing in a class so I'm telling her to practice harder and learning the laws"

"That's right. If you know the laws and can make a solid argument with them, no one will beat you in the court"

She nodded and looked at Spencer "and as a FBI agent you must know them too, right?"

"Yes, in fact, if someone isn't collaborating with an investigation and the case is really bad, you can arrest them for blocking the investigation and in the worst case you can arrest them for helping terrorism"

"Wow... really?" He nodded.

"You can learn the articles one per day. Analyse it and understand the meaning of it so you can use it properly" she nodded and looked at her father then at him.

"Thank you for the advice Spencer, that was helpful"

"You're welcome" he smiled.

Then Max and Michelle walked back in the living room and looked at the three of them talking.

"What did we miss?" Max sat next to Spencer.

"Talking about my beginning in the FBI and then some advices to Eloise" he synthesized their conversation.

"Oh that's great" she smiled "now it's my pleasure to tell you that dinner is ready. And it's eleven o'clock so in hour is Christmas day"

"Ok so do we eat first and then give the presents or wait and eat after that?" He asked.

"We usually eat first and then give the gift"

"Good then I will follow your tradition" said Spencer looking at them.

Michelle then called her husband and asked him to bring Sammy back in for dinner then the sisters set the table not letting Spencer to help.

They said he was their guess so he won't do anything. So he just watched as they keep putting everything on the table. When everything was done all of them sit by the table and Don pray for the food and thanks God for everything. 

Then they started to put the food in each plate. They ate and talk about random things. They laughed at some comments, especially from Sammy.

The dinner was delicious and Michelle said it was their mother's recipe and so were other dishes they made.

Spencer didn't have this kind of celebration in a long time. He missed this kind of reunions since his mother was moved to a hospital when he started in the university.

They all finished their meals and decided to eat the dessert later, so after they cleaned the table they sat by the tree and waited until it was twelve.

Don decided to start giving his and Eloise's presents for them. He gave a Lego set to Sammy, ties for Phill and Spencer and some dresses for his three daughters. Eloise gave him also a tie she bought when they took separate ways to get each other present.

Then Michelle and her family. They gave matching cups to Spencer and Max, her explanation was that since they both are coffee lover, what could be a better present than coffee cups. She gave Eloise a necklace with an E. To her dad she bought him a shirt.

Then they exchanged presents between them. Sammy and his dad gave her a new purse and Sammy got more toys from his parents, finally Michelle gave her husband a shirt.

Then it was Max and Spencer's turn. They gave each member of the family their presents. Sammy was so happy with the magic set that ignored the other toys he got.

"I guess Spencer's gift was the winner of the night" they all laughed when Sammy had all his attention to the magic set.

"I used one of them to learn some tricks at school so the bullies stopped bothering me"

Then it was time for each one give their gift to the other.

"Ok Max, as I told you I found the perfect gift for you in New York. I hope you like them"

"Them?"

"Yes, inside this box are two gift. Merry Christmas" he smiled and handed her the box. She opened it and when she did she could not believe that he bought her the art kit she wanted. 

She jumped in his arms and hugs him "Oh my God!! You are truly amazing" she sat on his lap and kissed him softly and then looked inside "just the one I wanted but this surely was expensive" she finished to remove the rest of the wrapped paper. And she found on the kit a pair of tickets, when she read them she smiled "The Metropolitan Museum? Spencer this is amazing thank you so much" she kissed him "I don't think my presence would ever beat yours"

He laughed "everything you give me will be amazing" she laughed and stood up she got her present for him and handed it to him.

He opened it and smiled when he saw a shirt "I made the design. I thought you would like it and wear it just with me. I don't know maybe to some dates" 

He checked the shirt while she explained it to him "come here" she walked to him and he pulled her softly to sit on his lap and kissed her "thank you, I love it and I promise to wear it. Just for you"

She smiled and hugged him. The moment was interrupted by Sammy asking him to teach him some tricks.

They both laughed and stood up, he walked to Sammy and they both started to use the set and that night Sammy learned some tricks and Spencer told him he has to practice if he wanted it to show it to his friends at school.

He promised Spencer to practice to be as good as him.

They ate the dessert and at three in the morning he told Max he had to leave.

"I think I should leave too, if we are going to visit your mom tomorrow, well late this day... then we should both went to sleep early" she said.

He nodded and after they said their goodbyes, he put their presents in the same bag they used for the presents for the family and left holding hands.

He drove her home and when they went up so he could put her presents in there, they started to kiss gently but then the kiss escalated to a heated one.

He placed his hands on her cheeks and her arms were around his neck.

She asked between kisses if he could stay the night. He accepted and after more kisses and touches they ended up in bed having their first time together.

And before they fell asleep they both whispered an 'I love you'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. And next chapter will be their visit to Diana's hospital and I'm wondering if you would want them to go to New York to spend New Year's eve and day there. Let me now in your comments or reviews.


	10. Say what you need to say

Chapter 10: Say what you need to say

The next morning Spencer woke up first and opened his eyes sleepy looking down to find Max's head on his chest, sleeping.

He smiled as memories of last night came to his mind. Everything was amazing; the night at her family and her suggestion to stay that night.

He was falling hard for her, and he could say, even without his profile training, she was feeling the same. He could see it in her eyes.

He checked his watch and saw it was still early so he will not wake her up yet. He held her closer to him as he checked a book that was on her nightstand. It was about Art History so he started to check it up.

He started to read it, it was interesting and not his usual type of readings but his books were at his apartment. 

When he was half way through the book she started to wake up. He kisses her forehead "hey there, good morning"

She looked up at him "good morning" she rubbed her eyes "what are you reading? And what time is it?"

"An art history book you had on the nightstand and its half past eight" she opened her eyes in shock.

"Wait, you wanted to visit your mother early today. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I didn't want to wake you up sweetheart. I wanted to let you sleep some more also it's still too early to go to the hospital, especially on Christmas day"

She nodded and saw the books page "did you read 300 pages already?"

"Yes"

"When did you started?"

"At eight o'clock" he said like it was the most normal thing to do.

"Did you just read 300 pages in thirty minutes?"

"Yes, I can read twenty thousand words per second"

"Oh my..." her jaw dropped at that "I will go take a shower so we can go to your apartment and change your clothes"

"Ok I will get dressed" she nodded and kissed his cheek then stood up and walked to her closet to pick up some clothes and went to the bathroom. 

Then Spencer stood up and got dressed up. He did not put on his tie or jacket. He was at the kitchen drinking water and checking his phone when it rang.

He answered it "Buon Natale Spencer" those were David Rossi's first words.

"Buon Natale Dave" he smiled at that "how was your Christmas eve?"

"It was great, Krystall and I enjoyed a nice evening with her daughter and her fiance"

"Did you profiled him?" He asked.

"No, I already did when they were starting to date and he was a nice boy so..." both laughed at that "and how was your night?"

"Amazing, Max and I spent it at her family's. We played board games, poker and dance. It was a pretty normal Christmas"

"Great to know that kid. You needed some normal things in your life. You had been through a lot these years so you deserved that" Spencer smiled.

"Thank you Dave, I'm happy with her and she helps me to get that thing Gideon fought so much to have... that calm place where the memories of our cases disappeared and I can only see her"

"Your cabin in the woods but you know what's the good thing of yours?... it can't be corrupted like his. And you just need a call to go there. That's how Krystall made me feel"

"I wish he could be here though"

"Me too but he will live in our memories and he is happier where he is. Now let's change to a happier conversation"

"Sure what is that?"

"I would like to invite you and Max to come over for dinner, I also invited Matt with his family"

"I would love to but for fully confirmation let me ask her. I don't know if they have another tradition for Christmas day"

"Ok let me know, have a nice day kid"

"I will Dave, see you" they both hung up and he finished the water he was drinking.

Then he sat on a couch and texted JJ while Max finished to get ready.

After some more minutes Max walked out of her bathroom, dressed and with her makeup on.

"Hey, ready to leave?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Yeah I am" he smiled and stood up then walked towards her.

"What did you do while I was taking my shower?"

"I was talking to Dave on the phone and then text JJ to know how was their night" he reached and hugged her "he wanted to invite us for dinner" he looked down at her "do you want to go?"

"I would love to" she smiled up at him "I think it's fair enough to have a night out with your friends"

"There will be just Matt and his family. The other left to see their families"

"Aww ok. I wanted to see them all again. That girl, Garcia, is pretty awesome"

"Yes she is, we had been in the BAU the same time. JJ joined the same year as the press liaison but then she left and returned a few years later as a profiler"

"Wow that's great" she smiled then checked her watch as she had her head on his chest "hey we should go. We still need breakfast and you need to get ready"

"Right... let's go" she pulled slightly away but still closer to him. They both walked to the door, he held the bag with his presents and she held her purse then both walked out of the apartment, then walked to his car and after they both got in he drove to his apartment. 

"Maybe while you get ready I can go buy us the breakfast. I'm sure I saw an open coffee shop"

"Sounds great. Theres still the key under the mat so you can use it" he said as they arrived there.

"Ok see you soon" she kissed him and walked out of the car, he smiled and goes up to his apartment, then he got in the shower.

His shower was quicker than hers and by the time he was ready, she arrived.

"I had to walk two blocks to get an open coffee shop, but I made it. I brought coffee and two sandwiches"

"Awesome they look great" they sat at the table and started to eat.

"Spence, how can you still live here after what happened here with Cat?"

"It's ok, I don't mind. I mean it was something bad but I spent most of my day in the office or in a case so this place it's almost for sleeping only"

"If you said so... if something happened in my apartment I would move out"

"It's a normal feeling. Most people prefer to run away from places that reminded them traumatic experiences. So I understand you"

She nodded and ate they remained silent until they finished their food and coffee. Then they walked out of the apartment and headed to the car.

"I'm nervous"

"Why Max?" He asked.

"Cause I want your mom to like me"

"I'm sure she will. She is the kindest woman and she will see how important you are for me" they reached his car and opened the door for her "how much... I love you" he said the last part a little lower but she listened to him "and again I know we said slow but..."

"Spencer, I think that rule was broken since we became an official couple two weeks ago. I have been doing one thing after the other and I'm letting them happen, and also encourage some them because I know that you aren't like Mike. You are decent in some ways that I couldn't dream to be" she rubbed his cheek "I love you too Spencer, so much it should be illegal at this point of our relationship" he laughed and kissed her.

Then she got into the car and he got in too in the driver's seat. He drove as he explained some stuffs about his mother.

When they arrived, both got out of the car and he held her hand and with the other had his mom's gift. 

They walked in the hospital and the nurse there greeting him "Dr. Reid, Merry Christmas. How are you?" Then looked at Max "and who is this pretty girl?" Asked the women, she knew the answer but want it from him.

"Merry Christmas Johanna, im great and you? This is Max, my beautiful girlfriend" she blushed a little and Johanna smirked.

"That's so sweet. Your mom is in her room. Wait here so I can check if you can come in now" he nodded and looked as she walked to his mom's room. 

"Hope she still have her mind clear. It was a huge surprise, when JJ got shot, remember my dream?" She nodded "well after she woke up the hospital called me to come over and they said they found this treatment that worked for her so she and I had a logical conversation, like when I was younger and she advised me, we play chest"

"And how much will it work?"

"They had no idea" he sighed "that's why I'm trying to find every moment to come over and check her" she squeezed his hand gentle. 

"And I'm sure she appreciated every moment with her son" she kissed his hand "so don't worry Spence"

He smiled and hugged her. Johanna walked towards them some minutes later "ok you can walk in" they nodded and walked there.

When they arrived his mother was sitting on her bed and smiled when she saw her son she jumped out of the bed and hugged him "Spencer!" 

He hugged her back and rubbed her back "hey mom, Merry Christmas" he kissed her cheek.

"Merry Christmas sweetheart" she then noticed Max "and I guess you are Max, right?"

"Yes, I'm Max Brenner, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Reid" she held up her hand so Diane shaked it.

Diane hugged her "Please call me Diane, and I'm happy to meet you and that you are making my son happy" both smiled "come in and sit here" they both took a sit on the sofa next to the bed and Diane sat on the bed "so how was your Christmas eve?"

"Wonderful. We were at Max's dad's home"

"Great, I'm glad you both spent it together" she smiled and looked at them "and I can tell you two are happy together. His eyes were always full of sorrow and sadness and now I can see happiness" 

He blushed slightly and held her hand "yeah she is making me happy and her eyes make me forget about the things I saw" 

She blushed this time and squeezed his hand gently.

"You deserve it Spencer" said Diane looking at them "can we talk in private Spencer?"

He looked at Max "sure I will go call my sister Michelle" she kissed his cheek and stood up.

Then walked out the room. Spencer looked at his mother "what did you want to talk about mom?"

"I had this feeling from the moment you both walked in. You know what I always told you..."

"A mother knows" they both said smiling.

"That's right. And this feeling is that you both will get married"

"And what made you have this feeling?"

"Your eyes, your body language" 

"Now who is the profiler?" He asked with a smirk.

"I don't need that to know my son. I never saw you this happy in a long, long time. I think the only day I saw you like this was when you made your first magic trick" he laughed "what I'm trying to say is that she is the one so don't mess that up" she smiled and turned to her nightstand and got out a little box and handed it to him.

When he opened he could see a beautiful ring with a little diamond on it. 

"It was my engagement ring. Your father gave it to me when we were getting out of the fifteenth century literature lecture. He didn't like it but he was there for me. He asked me in front of the auditorium. Of course I said yes and it was the best day until I had you"

He smiled and had some tears in his eyes "promise me you will wait till the right moment to pop the question. I'm sure you are wise enough to know it"

"We just said we love each other and now you show me this... I'm sure she is the one too but I'm afraid it may happen like what happened to Hotch or Gideon"

"Or could happen like JJ and Will. They are still together and she even had to leave the country" he nodded and looked down "and don't said it's because he is a cop" he sighed looking down "you aren't like them and they aren't like you" she held his hand.

"Thank you mom" he wiped the tears "oh I bought you a present" he handed it to her and hugged her, she opened the bag and smiled at his present.

"Thank you Spencer, it's beautiful" she kissed his cheek and then Max walked in.

"Hey Spence. Want to go to my sister's house? They are making a barbecue"

"Sounds great" he turned to his mother "I will be coming next week"

"Ok son, see you" she kissed him and help him closer to her "I love you"

"I love you too" and then he walked to Max and they both left the hospital to Max's sister's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was all for now. Hope you liked it. In this chapter Spencer spoke about his worries about making a family or even have a relationship with his job and his demons.


	11. Tortillas and talks

Chapter 11: Tortillas and talks

Their Christmas day was full with them visiting Diana, then spent the afternoon with Michelle's family and lastly going to Rossi for dinner.

They had a lot of fun that day and was a different day for him because he was not use to go out this much.

The next day they decided to meet at his apartment and stayed there, maybe went to watch a movie.

In the morning she arrived and he opened the door letting her walk in after she tipped toe to kiss him "Hey Spence I brought what you asked. Potatoes... what are we gonna do?" She asked curious. 

"Something Simmons taught me. He was part of the international team, they have to save Americans around the world. He's not a good cooker but he learned an easy dish from Spain. Its main ingredients are potatoes cut in slices and eggs, it's like a cake, they call it Tortilla"

"Sounds delicious" she walked into the kitchen with him as he cut the potatoes in slices "I didn't know you can cook baby" she hugged him from behind "it's kinda hot"

He laughed and she could bet he blushed "I had to. My mom was schizophrenic and when she was out of her mind for long periods of time, I had to cook. Thank God I learned everything really quickly and was able to keep her and myself alive and eating well"

She kissed his back gently "it must have been difficult for a kid, even a genius one" her head on his back.

"Yeah but I find out it was easy. It's like chemistry but without explosions and dangerous chemicals"

She laughed "that sounded so nerdy but the cute kind of nerdy" he laughed softly. 

"Can you help me with something?"

"Sure what?"

"Can you crack... um... six eggs?" She nodded and went to get them.

"Six?" He nodded "isn't that to much?"

"Four aren't enough for both of us, I think six is perfect"

"Ok as you command chef" she laughed and cracked the eggs "what else?"

"Do you like spicy food?"

"Yes I like it"

"Perfect because this dish has spicy sausage" he finished to cut the potatoes and turned to turn on the stove and put on it a pan with some butter and oil.

"Ok I cracked the eggs now what?"

"Whisk them with a fork" she did it while he put in the pan the sausages and the vegetables then put the potatoes to fry them.

He put some salt and pepper on them while they cook "I never expected to see you cooking" 

He laughed as he kept working on the vegetables "now I will pour the eggs" she handed the plate to him and he poured them in the frying pan.

His whole concentration was on the food and Max's eyes looked at him then the tortilla.

After a few minutes he spoke again "now we have to put this in the oven to finishes it in there" he opened the ovens door and slides in the pan "in 5 minutes it will be cooked"

"Awesome and with what can we eat it?"

"With bread. I will put them in the toaster in a few minutes"

"Ok mister handsome chef" she laughed and looked at him "now Doctor. I would like to talk to you about something that is bugging me... about my boyfriend"

He raised an eyebrow but continued with this roleplay "ok Miss Brenner, tell me what's going on?"

"Well... you see, my boyfriend gave me two tickets to go to the Metropolitan museum in New York city and I want to go with him but his job is full of busy days and sometimes we can't even see each other for days" she pouted at that making him smile "and right now he has a free week but it's also New Year's eve in a few days" he nodded realizing what she wanted to ask "so I want to propose him two options... first one is to postpone the travel to some week we both are free or second going there this week and spend the New Year in New York" she bit her lip.

"And if you stay here, where could you spend your New Year's eve?"

"This time at Michelle's house"

Spencer thought about it, he liked New York and would like to be there but also he liked the experience of being part of a family.

"Give him time to think about it" he said with a serious tone and she nodded.

"Ok as the doctor said" she smiled.

Then he checked the tortilla out of the oven carefully and put it on a plate. Perfectly cooked and with a nice brown color.

"It looks great" she smiled "now I wondering how it taste"

He smiled and cut some for her and him then hand her some toasts and a cup of coffee.

They sat down and talked, he told her some stuffs from his past back in Vegas and she told her experiences with some mean girls.

Both laughed and had a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe one of the shortest chapters but I have not made a decision about where they will spend New Year. Two chapters ago two people commented their options. The score is 1 New York - 1 Stay in DC. Please comment your opinion. I will write the chapter when I make my decision.


	12. Surprises Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we will have 2 special guest and I hope you like them. We will read below.

Chapter 12: Surprises part 1

The next day Max was called to go to the Smithsonian for a meeting to talk with her and the candidates about their next programs so she called Spencer to wait for her and later they can go to the cinema.

Her dad told them at the barbecue that the 1954's Godzilla movie, the black and white one, will be at the same theater he and Eloise got kidnapped.

And it was one of Spencer's favorite movies so they decided to go watch it after lunch. Max, Eloise and her boyfriend will join them.

So Spencer will go to the museum and while she is in her meeting he called Derek to go there with Hank. They had not talked in a while and he missed his godson. 

Spencer was watching the kids after Max walked into the museum to her meeting. He was thinking about been a dad one day, he was so deeply in that thought that he did not realized Hank was there until he said "uncle Spencer!!" His little hands on his legs.

Spencer looked down and smiled at the little boy "Hank!! How are you?" He picked him up and sat him on his lap.

"Good!!" He hugged his godfather and laid his head on his head.

"Where is your dad?" He looked down and poked his nose.

"He buy me candy" he giggled and pointed at his dad holding a bag with candies.

"Hey pretty boy" said Derek looking at his former coworker "merry Christmas" Spencer stood up and hugged Derek with his free arm.

"I missed you Derek" he said and they broke the embrace "I hope you let me get some candies Hank" he looked at the kid in his arms. Hank nodded and smiled "yay! Uncle Spencer is happy" Hank laughed.

"He wanted to bring his mini Kylo Ren lightsaber and mask to show them to you but I told him you will visit us sooner so he brings a..."

"Ball!!" Hank showed his little ball.

"Wow! That's awesome Hank. Do you wanna play with me?" He nodded and Spencer put him back on the ground and the three-year-old kid threw awkwardly the ball and Spencer dramatically held it making the little kid giggled more.

"Well that's good to see you are getting better with sports" he smirked and Spencer rolled his eyes "Hank do you want to go to play with sand?" The kid nodded and lifted his arms to his dad.

Derek picked him up and the two adults walked there with Hank "so how is Savannah?"

"She is great. She is at work at the hospital. And where is your girl?"

"She has a meeting in the museum. She is trying to get a job creating art programs for children with disabilities"

"Sounds like a fun thing to do" Derek smiled as they reached the sand pit and sat Hank in "so is she a teacher?"

"She has a degree in Art History but she teaches art to kids"

"I see... and is she making you happy?"

Spencer smiled "Yes, she is so sweet, funny and intelligent"

"Aww pretty boy is growing so fast" he laughed and wrapped an arm on his shoulder.

He laughed "and sometimes I think you will never grow up"

Derek laughed "I'm so proud of you, you know that right?" Spencer nodded "I'm glad you found someone to love"

"It wasn't easy. Because I saw how many people suffered in the team when a serial killer tried to hurt their loved one. Gideon, Hotch, Emily, JJ, you. It's hard to have a family and be a FBI agent"

"Yeah, that's why I left the team and Hotch" they looked at Hank playing with the sand "and for me was our best shot to be happy"

"Of course it was. You deserved to be happy with your wife and kid"

"And what's the plan with Max?"

"We are talking our time. Enjoying the relationship and the moments we have together. We start dating officially at the end of November so soon will be our first month"

"Ok and do you have something planned?" He shakes his head "oh come on Reid. I know could do it better than that" the former agent laughed 

"You know I'm new with these things" Derek laughed more.

"Ok pretty boy. When is the exact date?"

"We started dating on November twenty-nineth so our first month together will be close to New Year's eve"

"Hmm I see..."

"Oh... wait I got something" Derek encouraged Spencer to continue "as part of my Christmas present for her, I gave her two tickets for the Metropolitan museum in New York. She asked me yesterday to use them soon so she and I can use my free days and be together" the man nodded "the problem is... New York is crowded at this time of the year, you need to make reservations months before New Year's eve"

"True but... I have a friend, he is in LA right now and he has an apartment there for his work in the city. It's close to Central Park and away from Time Square" 

"How do we get the key if he is at the other side of the country?"

"He left it with the reception. I can ask him and you can stay for 5 days or so"

"Sounds great" Spencer lifted his fist closed, the last time he did it to him, Derek did not accept because he won against him and Kate when he calculated the number of boats.

This time Derek answered the fist bump and they both laughed. They were having a fun time with Hank when finally Max arrived. 

She walked towards him and kissed him gently then she turned to see the man with Spencer and the little boy in his arms. 

"Max this is Derek Morgan. He's like my big brother"

"Nice to finally meet you. Spencer talks so much about you" she blushed softly "good things of course"

"Nice to meet you too Derek. Spencer doesn't talk much about his job, but he mentioned you a lot" he smiled "and who is this cute little boy?" She asked looking at Hank.

"Ok no.... how did I forget my little friend right here? Max it's my pleasure to introduce you my godson Hank Spencer Morgan"

"Nice to meet you sweetie" she smiled as the little boy giggled at her "awe he is so adorable"

"Yes he is. And you were approved by him as uncle Spencer girlfriend" Derek laughed kissing his son forehead.

"Good news, I'm now his official girlfriend" she laughed and hugged Spencer.

"Hey I was wondering if you would like to eat pizza with Hank and I?"

"Sounds great" Spencer looked at her.

"I'm totally agree with that"

"Perfect let's go then. We can walk there"

They all walked to the restaurant. Derek told some embracing stories about Spencer and then the boy genius told her some about Derek.

At the restaurant they had a good time talking. Max was having fun with those two because, in fact, they acted like brothers.

She was like that with Michelle and Eloise and so were they both with her. Hank was a mess with his pizza slide, his face covered with tomato sauce and cheese on his shirt.

"Derek, you should clean Hank. He is a little mess" Derek sighed and nodded.

"Ok I will be right back" he stood up holding Hank and the baby bag.

When the couple was alone she turned to him "how was the meeting?" He asked drinking some of his Sprite.

She sighed "well they want me to give my program to someone else so he or she can do it, you know I will create them but I wont teach them all"

"I understand"

"Its my program can work without me teaching it. Then I will get to a shorter list" 

"That's amazing"

"Yeah but I'm thrilled but nervous at the same time"

"You will do it great, I know it" she hugged him and he kissed her head "thrust in you Max"

"Thank you Spence" they hugged until Derek returned with his son sleepy in his arms.

"Hey I should leave, Hank is sleepy and I don't have the stroller"

"It's ok, we have to go anyway. My dad invited us to watch a movie" Derek smiled.

"Awesome have fun and don't spoil them the end like you did to me" they both laughed then the former agent added "I will text you when I have an answer about what we talked, ok?" Max looked at them confused.

"Ok, see you Derek" he smiled and looked at Hank "goodbye Hank, love you" he kissed the little boy's head. Then father and son left after they all pay "let's go" 

"Should I ask what I missed?"

"It's a favor I asked Morgan, don't worry" she raised an eyebrow but did not ask anything else.

He drove to her dad's house to pick him up. Eloise and her boyfriend will meet them there.

"So Spencer you like the classic movies huh?"

"Yes, I'm fascinated by the practical effects. For example Star Wars old movies has some very good. It was art" 

"Finally someone who understands!" Said Don making Max rolled her eyes.

"Dad you know I enjoyed those movies"

"Yeah but because you are an artist. Michelle is an accountant and Eloise is a lawyer" he explains "you are more open to that but I can tell you hit bored sometimes"

"Because they were in black and white and without voices. I was 9 and Michelle was 12" 

Spencer laughed softly "my mother read me book in old English. Those were hard to understand if she didn't remember to explain me some words. I was 6"

"You are a genius honey... I'm an average woman" she pouted. 

"It still is quite impressive that you watched black-and-white movies at 9 without getting bored" 

They arrived to the cinema and got out the car. There were Eloise and her boyfriend with there tickets. 

"Hey Jack and Eloise" said Don hugging both.

Jack had dirty blonde hair, green eyes and was wearing a leather jacket with jeans and a shirt "sir we bought the tickets" they both hand then a ticket. 

The five walked in. Spencer bought them popcorn and sodas saying it was a gift for invited him there.

They watched the movie, it was in Japanese which put a smile on Spencer's lips.

Sometimes Max could swear, she could see him saying the dialogues in Japanese. 

When the movie finished all people walked out talking about the cool practical effects and how the Japanese people made that in 1954.

Then all of them were to eat some thai food and talked a lot. Jack was studying physics and Spencer was having an interesting conversation about it.

Later that night they decided to go back home, and Jack offered to take Don back home with Eloise. 

Spencer and Max went to her apartment "do you want to come in?" He nodded. After their first night together they have not share bed again. Either because he was nervous to ask or because she felt she could be pushing him out of his comfort zone.

They went up and he was sitting on the couch as she made some coffee. When Derek called him "hey pretty boy"

"Oh hey Derek, what's up?"

"My friend called me. He said you can have the apartment for at least five or six days so you and Max can use it"

"That's great, thank you" he smiled.

Derek laughed "good, remember to be more romantic kid. She is an amazing woman and deserves to be treated like that so stop being so logical and be more..."

"...like you?"

"Exactly!!" They both laughed "see you later Spencer. Enjoy your night"

"Ok see you" and then they both hung up.

"So are you going to tell me what is going on?" She asked 

Spencer held her hand and pulled her closer to him making her sit on his lap "you enjoy investigations right" she placed a hand on his chest.

"Yeah and you love to hide thing from me" she looked into his eyes "what is happening? And don't you dare lie to me"

"Max there's not something wrong" he wrapped his arms around her "in fact it's something amazing" she raised an eyebrow "do you remember that question you made me yesterday?"

"About where we will spend the New Year" it was not a question but an statements, he nodded "do you have an answer?"

"Yes" he looked at her and she bit her lip "we can go to New York"

"Really?"

"Yes. I told Derek today and he said he has a friend who has an apartment free there"

"So we have where to stay" he nodded "we still need tickets"

"Yeah. Tomorrow I will check if the travel agency has tickets"

"You are full of surprises, aren't you?" He laughed "well I will ask too. I wish we decided this sooner"

"Yeah but this was a surprise. Sadly I couldn't tell you with the tickets"

"Yes but it's still a surprise to know you made this decision" she leaned in and kissed him wrapping her arms around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the poll, New York won. So next chapter will be fully in New York. I think I will skip the whole looking for tickets and just drop them in. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and commenting. By the way... I need a quote from Gideon, where he told the team or Spencer to trust their profiles to catch an unsub. I need it for my version of the last 2 episodes of the season 15.


	13. Surprises part 2

The next night Spencer and Max were on a taxi on their way to the apartment. He managed to find tickets thanks to a couple that canceled their trip at the last second. 

Thankfully the return will be some days later so the flights are less crowded. Before they left to the airport early that day, Spencer talked to the man at the reception of the building and asked if he could put in the apartment a bouquet of roses and champagne.

He wanted to make their first month, something special and of course he wanted them to enjoy their alone time together as much a possible before his job started to keep them away for days.

"And is the city too crowded?" Max asked the driver.

"Yeah, the city always got crowded on New Year's eve" said the man with a heavy African accent "normally the city is full of people but not as much as these days"

"Ok so it will be tough to reach the museum, unless we went early, because I'm sure the tourists won't be out too early but the New Yorkers will be"

Spencer nodded "so we will need to wake up early tomorrow to reach the museum in time"

"The museums will work tomorrow and the next day not the 31st won't work" the couple nodded.

"Ok thank you" said Max cuddling on Spencer's chest "it's really cold her, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I asked the man at the reception to turn on the heater for us, so the apartment is warm when we arrive"

"Good" she said looking outside the window, everything was cover with a white layer.

After some minutes they arrived to the building, he paid the driver and both get out their suit. They packed clothes for six days and put some more, just in case.

They walked in and talked with the receptionist "Good night, I'm Spencer Reid and this is Max Brenner we are going to the apartment 87" the man check.

"Ok here you are Mr. Reid. The owner said you will be staying for six days right?"

"Yes"

"Ok, the main room isn't open. Mr. Fisher has the key so you can stay in the guest room but don't worry it has a bed for two" they both nodded "and as you asked my partner turned on the heater before leaving so it must be warm"

"Great, anything else?"

"No that's all... oh wait here is a phone guide with numbers of some delivery restaurants. They work 24 hours"

"Ok thank you" he held it and the key and handed it to Max then he held both suitcases and walked to the elevator.

The floor of the apartment was the eighth and when they arrived they walked to the apartment. Max opened it and both were surprised when they saw the big apartment.

The apartment's livingroom has a large sofa L shaped and a smart TV in front of it, them the dining room and the kitchen were designed as an open concept and with a big marble table as their division. When they walked the apartment was warm and comfortable. 

"I will go check the room, maybe tomorrow we can buy somethings to cook here, I don't want us to eat always out side. Maybe since you cooked for me, I can do it for you" said Max winking at him.

"Sounds perfect" he smiled and she walked there while he checked the kitchen. There were some bottles of water so he grabbed one, suddenly he heard a scream from the room so he ran toward there and when he reached there, Max was looking at the roses and a bottle of champagne with two cups.

She was with a hand on her mouth and turned to him. She walked to him and hugged him and he held her tight "this is for our first month. Which will be tomorrow" he whispered on her hair.

"This was so sweet of you Spence" she looked at him and kissed him gently "you make me fall in love more everyday we spend together" she played with his hair gently. 

"So do I, you are making me so happy" he picked her up and walked to the bed they will share the next few days.

OOooOOooOO 

The next day they woke up early and after a shower they got dressed and walked out of the apartment holding hands.

"We should eat when we reach the museum" he nodded.

"Yeah, there's a good place to eat close to the museum"

"Ok" she smiled as a taxi stopped in front of them. They got in and said where he will go.

She layed her head on his arm "so did you ever went to this museum?"

"Actually no. I only came to New York for work and then we left after catching the bad guy" he looked at her "this is the first time here without a case"

She smiles "and it happens with every case?" He nodded.

"Yeah, we leave as soon as the unsub is in prison" they arrived to the museum, he paid and got out of the car. 

The museum was still closed so they walked to a coffee shop and bought their breakfast. 

While they waited Max found a brochure of the museum and read their exhibitions. She was excited for some of them she wanted to check out. 

She started to ramble about them and he was looking at her with a smile. I liked hearing people rambling about things they love.

He nodded and commented a thing or two while he held the tray to a table. They ate and talked.

When they finished their food, they stood up and walked out the coffee shop "ok let's go" she held up the tickets as they headed to the museum. 

He held her hand and walked in handing their tickets to the guy there. Then both walked in the museum. 

They checked some pictures and she rambled about them as they saw them. He nodded and said some things about what he knew too.

This was not his field of expertise so he let her explain everything. They checked as much painting as they can all morning. 

They just stopped for coffee an a snack they got at a little stand in the museum. Then continue until they wanted lunch.

"We should go now" he said and she pouted "don't pout at you young lady" he said with a smirk "we have to get lunch"

"Ok I think you are right, let's go" she held his hand, went to the souvenir store to buy some presents for their families and he also got some for his coworkers then they left the museum.

"Where should we go Spence?" She asked as they called a taxi.

"Dave told me about a restaurant he knew in the Little Italy. He grew up here so he recommended me that place"

"Sounds good, if he recommends a restaurant that place must be amazing" she said as she remembered their time at his house "oh and I forgot we need to buy food for us" he nodded as he managed to get a taxi.

"After lunch we can go to a market" he opened the door for her then he got in and said where they wanted to go to the driver "I saw one a few blocks from the apartment"

"Perfect" she smiled and held his hand playing with his fingers softly "did you like the museum?"

"Of course, it was fun and I learned a lot. I love to learn things. You told me a lot about art History, something out of my expertise" she looked at him "I knew somethings but never like you"

"Well I'm glad I managed to teach you something, at least a few new things" he smiled softly.

"I enjoyed watching you talking and been excited about all of this and that fulfill my heart" she blushed "also this teached me more about you" she looked up and him and kissed him.

"I'm glad you are telling me this because I also learned about you. You don't usually share your thoughts or feelings so everytime you do, I know you are breaking your walls with me"

"My job is tough and I saw so many things that made me build them so, yeah... you are making me open up" he smiled and rubbed her cheek "I love hope and I watched it with you most often" she smiled and blushed.

"That's so sweet" she kissed the hand the had on her cheek "I love you"

"I love you too" they kissed again. There was traffic so they did not arrive as quick as they wish to their destination.

When they finally arrived, he paid and both got out. Spencer looked for the restaurant Rossi told him. After some minutes he found it and they walked in. The place was decorated with pictures of Italy and its flag, there were some paintings on the walls of famous places from there, the tables have candles lighted up and a pot with little flowers.

Spencer approached to the manager and whispers something in Italian. The man smiled "David's friend is my friend" he said with a heavy Italian accent "come, come... follow me" he led them to a table "this is my special table" he looked at the waiter and told him to go get them a menu "please enjoy. The wine is on me" he left them and walked away. 

Then the waiter handed them the menu, they checked it and while they do, he poured some wine in their cups and some bread with olive oil with spices.

They ordered and toasted for their first officially month as a couple. Then they talked about the city and more about the museum. 

They ate their food, Spencer was making random comments about Italian culture or rambling about some statistics.

Max just nodded and let him talk. She found it cute when he did that "Spencer, what happened to the champagne in the apartment?"

"I put it in the refrigerator, you can have a champagne in there for three or four days before the bubbles start to disappear"

"Ok sounds good, we will need it for New Year"

"Yes I'm agree" he finished the food "did you like it?"

"Love it" he smiled "do you want to go now?"

"Sure it's almost five. And the traffic will be heavier"

"Ok let's go then" he called the waiter and asked for the bill. 

After it arrived he stood up and went to pay. When he returned he had a tiramisu cake in a bag "Giovanni, the manager, sent this to us. He said 'you and your girlfriend deserve to enjoy this so here's a gift from me' and didn't accept a no as an answer so..." she could not hold a little laugh at that.

Then she stood up "I'm sure we will love it" she helped him carrying it while he held their presents to their families and friends. 

The travel back to their temporary home was quite as they were tired. They stopped at the apartment to left the bags and walked to the market closer to them.

They bought bread, butter, cheese and other things. They made the decision to eat outside on New Year's eve so they just bought for breakfast and dinner for the other days. 

She grabbed somethings for her secret dish, she even paid for them with another cashier.

The next day they planned to go to see the city and do as much tours as they can. 

He decided to give her the best few days there before he started to work and she had the same plan for him, she wanted him to have good memories of the city, so he did not see the city as the home of the serial killer or a kidnapper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all for now. This one took me some time to write. My mind was not full committed with the story.
> 
> This is an escape for me as much as yours from this global problem so let's cheer each other and continue the support. Thank you to all the people who took the time to comment, favorite or just read. I wish all of you who just read tell me what you like or dislike. 
> 
> I am open to any recommendations as long as they help me to learn.
> 
> Read you soon with more.


	14. New Year

Chapter 14: New Year

When the December thirty-first arrived. Max was in their bed, wearing his shirt and underwear. 

She looked at him and smiled. He looked so cute when he was sleeping and she could not help but fall more for him.

When they went back to DC she will miss waking up next to him every day. She wanted to propose to him the moving in together but it was still to soon.

She was the one who set the 'take things slow' and she already break it. Their first kiss happened because of her after Catherine's kidnapped her dad and sister, their first time making love happened because of her after him been so sweet and gentleman and caring with her family that she could not resist. 

This travel happened because of her, so now she realized that her plan was an excuse for not open up to him, but he was so... him that she could not help herself but to open every window, door... everything to him.

But this... moving in was a big step even for her. She ran her hand gentle into his hair, she was careful not to wake him up.

She wanted to wake up like this every day but was not sure if that would be possible with his job.

She remembered talking to Kristy and Kristall at the Christmas party at David's house. 

OOooOOooOO

David took his male friends for a friendly round of poker, he and Matt knew Spencer would will but the funny thing will be watching the others getting surprised by that.

At the only people left there were a couple sitting at the living room talking and the two wives of her boyfriend's coworkers. 

"So how is it like to be marry a FBI agent?" Max asked to break the ice.

"It's both exciting and terrifying" said Krystall with a smile.

"Same" said Kristy "and I would add that it makes you terribly worry but then when they come back and hug you, it's like the first time" add her "that's why we have five children" they laughed. 

"I don't need that much children" said Max laughing "I'm scared, Spencer and I just started dating and I'm already worry when he told me about a case"

"I understand, Matt was part of a different team a couple of years ago. With this team he had to go further than with the BAU. Because they had to go out of the US"

"Wow that must be terrifying"

"It was, but we survived it and I dont think anything would break us. I think after Catherine Adam's face off, you will also survive anything"

"I'm agree. I mean Dave isn't that young anymore but this is his life. He loves this job and this unit and I will support him always"

Max smiled at them, that was what she did, she support him and she will keep doing that "I love Spencer and I want what is best for him. Did David and Matt get hurt?"

"Oh yes honey" said Krystall "David got shot, broke bones, got a little PTSD after Everett Lynch's attack. And I couldn't protect him but I can make sure he recovers from that"

"Same with Matt, he had been shot a lot of times, got hurt, broke bones but like Krystall said, we can't protect them. He is mine and our kids hero"

"Dave told me what he thinks its necessary to keep me informed but not to worry. I know there are more stupid things he does but I kept my mouth shut" Kristy laughed. 

"Yeah Matt wrote a book with his adventures but I'm pretty sure he didn't add some details so he won't scare us" 

"Spencer still didn't share his work life, not even the light events" she looked at them "I know some things he shared, especially after Cat"

"Don't shut him up to much. He will need you and if he knows he can share something to you, he will. You just have to hug him and ease the pain. Matt and I have a plan if something happens to him. I know its may sounds like to much but I learned that this job is a huge responsibility and they risk their lives for us"

Max nodded and sighs "don't be scared Max, Reid is a cold headed man. I would be more worried about Dave" said Krystall making both women laugh "trust him"

"I do. I did since he helped my nephew when he had a panic attack" she looked at them "it just... I'm so into him that I wouldn't resist if something bad happened"

"You will. That was something I thought myself when Matt told me about what he does for a living" Kristy held her hand "I'm sure when that moment comes you will be ready" Max nodded and smiled at the blonde woman in front of her.

OOooOOooOO

Max wanted to believe her but everytime that thought crossed her mind, her heart skip a beat. Her fingers were into his hair stroking it gently. 

After some more minutes she stopped and softly managed to stood up without waking him up.

She headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She was thinking about tonight. Where they will spend the last couple of hours of 2019.

They had a few options one was the Empire State Building where they can enjoy the fireworks, second was Central Park and another was a ferry towards the Statue of Liberty.

She will ask Spencer when he wakes up. When she finished her shower and got dressed. 

She put back on his and a fresh underwear. Then Max walked back to the bedroom and Spencer was awake "good morning handsome. Did you sleep well?" She sat next to him.

"Good morning beautiful. Yes it was a great sleep" he smiled and kisses her gently "I will go take a shower, then we can eat and plan what to do tonight"

"Sounds great. I will get out the bread, cheese and butter then you can make coffee"

"Perfect" he smiled and stood up then walked to the bathroom. 

Max walked to the kitchen and made some sandwiches for them. Then called her dad.

"Hey dad, how are things going?"

"Great, Michelle planned a barbecue and we will go there tonight. How is New York?"

"Amazing, Spencer has been a gentleman with me. We were in the museum, then eat pasta in the Little Italy, yesterday we were on tour in Manhattan. Today we want to go somewhere to watch the fireworks but we haven't decided yet"

"I'm happy you found such an amazing guy, sweetheart, you were one of my daughters I was more worry about. Since you and Mike broke up you stopped to trust in people but now with Spencer you seem so happy"

"I am dad" she smiled with some tears "my only worry now is... his job. I know he has been doing this for years but it's so dangerous"

"Darling he will be fine, he is smart and knows what to do if things get bad. Also he has something years ago he doesn't... you. He has a girlfriend now and he will want to stay alive for you"

"Thanks dad" she said cleaning her tears and turns to see that Spencer walked in the room "well dad I will call you tomorrow, have a great celebration. Love you"

"Love you too Max" then they hung up then she waits for him to get ready. 

Max looked out the window. They had Central Park in front of them, so maybe it could be a nice spot to watch the fireworks without moving to far.

She was so focused that she did not realized Spencer was behind her until he hugged her.

"So what is in this beautiful head?" He asked looking down at her.

She chuckled "well I'm thinking what we will do tonight, sir"

"And what did you think?"

"We can stay in this area of the city, then goes to the park and watch the fireworks then return home. How does it sound?"

"Sounds great, I like that plan" he looked at her as she turned in his arms.

"That's great, and if you have any other idea tell me so we can do something we both want"

"I didn't have ideas. So I like yours" she laughed and wrapped her arms around him. 

"Ok then. That's what we will do" she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly "let's go to the kitchen and make coffee kind sir"

He laughed and walked to the kitchen. She followed him to toast the sandwiches.

Then they both ate and drank coffee watching an old Christmas movie on TV.

"Spencer" he looked at her "do you want tonight's dinner here or out?"

"Here could be nice. Why?"

"Because I can cook it for us. Something my mom always did for New Year's eve"

"Ok I would like it but do you have all ingredients?"

"I bought them some days ago. I was thinking of doing it some other day but since we both decided to stay here, then I can make it"

"Ok need any help?" She shook her head.

"No I want it to be a surprise" he raises his eyebrow "go read books or check out the parks for good spots"

"Max..."

"Just do it, ok? Trust me"

He just nodded "ok I will go to check the park. If you need something just call me, ok?" She nodded "good" he stood up and walked into de bedroom to put on his shoes.

Meanwhile Max walked to the kitchen to start to cook. She gets out some ingredients and turned on the stove. 

She watched as Spencer walked away "see you later honey" she said smiling at him. He just smiled and left the apartment. 

Then she started to cook. She was making lasagna. Her mom used to make it every year because it was a family tradition. 

Her mom has Italian heritage so they liked to cook that kind of food. Michelle and herself learned dishes from her.

When Spencer arrived she finished the ground meat and the white sauce, now she was cooking the pasta.

"Hey Max, I checked the Central Park. Close to the monument to John Lennon the have chairs to watch the fireworks show. By the way, did you know that his murderer was a huge fan of the band but got mad when Lennon compared the Beatles with Jesus? That must be his trigger" he said fast as he walked in the kitchen.

"Spence I love you but those aren't the kind of facts I like to hear"

"Sorry" he looked down ashamed.

"It's ok" she patted his chest softly "is it free?"

"Yes, so we will need to go early to find seats"

"Ok I'm almost done here and the dish I'm making just need to get in the oven to grill the cheese"

"Ok, do you want me to buy something else?"

"Is there wine?"

"Yes so don't worry. As I said I bought everything. I used my credit card plus my last payment of December to pay it"

"Ok" he smiled at her "you could ask me to pay it"

"No, it was my surprise to you" she smiled and hugged him.

He hugged her back and then she returned to cook.

When the night arrived they both ate and shared some wine. They decided to take down the champagne and two glasses to celebrate the New Year with a it.

They put on their jackets and went down to the park. He led the way to the place the celebration was. There were some free spots so they got one of those. There were tables and seats. 

They gave them some hot chocolate and put music on. The night was fun, they met new people. At midnight they all wished a Happy New Year, the couples kiss and the fireworks show started. 

After that the rest of their time in New York was relaxed. They visited museums. Spencer threw lot of facts when they visited the American Natural History Museum and the New York Zoo.

They returned to DC on January Third, ready to started a new year.


	15. We don't need a gun to kill someone

"There are certain clues at a crime scene which by their very nature do not lend themselves to being collected or examined. How's one collect love, rage, hatred, fear...? These are things that we're trained to look for." James Reese

After they returned home from New York, Spencer and Max returned to their routine. She has to go to the school and the next week she will have a new presentation at the Smithsonian. 

He, on the other hand, has a few small cases. The biggest of them was a man who wanted to find his perfect family and killed women and men.

So now that he is back home he wanted to spend time with her. He was so used to their dynamic of the past two week that he now missed it.

They planned to have dinner that night. He ordered thai food and when she arrived the food came shortly after. 

They decided to not talk about work at dinner. So he told her about JJ thinking about leaving to New Orleans for a job there at the bureau, she would be chief there.

He was happy for her because she had been growing so much in all these years but he will miss her and his godsons.

She also told him about a teacher who may retire at the end of the school year. This teacher had been working for 35 years at the school and everybody loves her.

So she planned to give her a present made by the kids.

"That's really sweet of you Max, I'm sure she will love it" he smiled at her and after dinner they laid on the sofa and talked some more. Just be together made them happy. 

"Have you ever invited your friends in?" She asked rubbing his arm around her "because you told me about Luke invited you all to his house to host Kristy's baby shower and Rossi who hosted every big party of the unit and even Penelope hosted some reunions but never heard of you doing it"

"It's because I never really invited someone else in here. I was germaphobic when I started to work in the BAU also I was nervous to get attached to those people, even though I ended up being attracted to them but truthfully I'm not sure if all of these apply as a reason"

"I understand and I think you should. As you follow your therapist about having a normal conversation, you should follow mine about invited them in. After all you share more time with them than anyone else"

He laughs softly and kissed her head "ok I will do it" she smiled and turned to face him and kissed him softly.

"Good boy" she laughed and hugged him tightly.

After that they share more time like that then she said she has to leave, it was getting late and she had to wake up earlier.

"I wish you didn't have to leave" he said as he walked her to her car, for protection.

"Me too but we aren't talking about moving in together. And I didnt want to mention it"

"Why?"

"Because it's what screw up everything with Mike" she looked at him "you meant so much to me to screw up"

He looked at her "you won't. You are amazing and when you are ready to take that step I will be right here. Ready for it"

She smiled "and this is why I love you you Doctor Reid"

He laughed and kisses her softly then she opened the door of the car and got in "see you and remember what your new therapist ordered you" she winked and he laughed and nodded.

"Yes ma'am" he smiles as she rolled her eyes and left. He looked until the car was out of his sight and returned home. 

The next day he invited all the team to go to his apartment if they didn't have a case. Dave could not but the rest decided to go.

They talked while eating Chinese food then Penelope mentioned her thinking about a new job offer.

At first he was shocked because he was more used to think other members would leave first than her.

Luke was shocked too and he could see, even with their constant fights, that both care about the other.

Then JJ and Prentiss arrived and they did some games and had a good time.

Then they left and Spencer looked at them smiling. He called Max "hey Max"

"Oh hey Spence. What's up?"

"I did what you want me to" he smiled looking down.

"Really? That's awesome babe, you won a kiss" she smirked and he just laughed "I would like to heard all the details. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Sounds great" he smiled at that "see you tomorrow. Good night"

"Good night" they both hung up then he went to his bedroom, changed and went to sleep.

The next day, after his coffee with Max, Spencer decided to look for Rossi. So after he could not find him in his office or other places he would be. So his last option was the first office of the BAU.

There he was with all his evidence about Lynch on the wall "I don't know why it didn't occur to me yesterday that you'd come down here to recharge" Spencer checked the wall full of photos and details of Lynch "it's been a year since we first encountered Lynch"

"Yeah, I'll probably forget my wedding anniversary but I'll never forget that day" David's eyes focused on the room as his fingers played with his cup of coffee "and this is where the BAU began. It's the one place I can still hear Gideon's voice, prodding me to, um, 'think outside the box'" the last thing was an imitation of Gideon's voice.

That made Spencer laughs softly "something like, uh, 'I am the unsub'" said Spencer trying to make and imitation of the former member of the BAU.

"'Who's your daddy?'" That made the young doctor laughed "that's what we've been missing"

"Roberta gave us the name..."

"Roberta lied. She just wants to appear to be helpful to everyone. She's got her own agenda"

"What are you thinking... Get paroled, find her son and get revenge for the death of her granddaughter Grace?"

"The trifecta"

"Killing your own child is far more common than most people think and in filicide cases, mothers are just as likely as fathers to be killers"

"Which is why Roberta doesn't want us to get in the way of her taking care of family business "

"Still, filicide not only requires that she harbor deep resentment, but also that she disassociates from her relationship to her only child"

"Which she did when I showed her the photo of Grace's dead body"

"Were you gonna share all this with the rest of the team?"

"It's just theories"

"Dave, I completely understand your personal stake in this, but you and Gideon started something pretty good down here, and I think it's time that you let that legacy do what it's always done best... work together as a team" that made David to understand he was so focused on catching Lynch that he forgot the team. A team that he watched catching criminals over that past twelve years.

He nodded and both men went up to the office of the BAU to share this theory with them.

Penelope found out that Lynch was looking for a private detective to find his real father, the team speculated that maybe he was not a sociopath if killing his daughter triggered some memories of his father.

They decided to sent Spencer to observe JJ and Tara interrogate Roberta. Spencer could not see her really killing her son, she talked with hatred but he could not find a sign of filicide.

When they arrived back to the office the next day, Emily announced they will wheel up in 30 to Reno, Nevada, all the team but her and Tara. She will stay in DC and check the team.

"Fret not my intrepid crime fighters. You're no longer flying blind into the silver state. I have matched our mysterious searcher's I.P. address to business in Reno that touts itself as a 'private security firm' and it's christened Castle Security"

"Says here the company is owned and operated by Orlando Gaines" added Matt.

"What a piece of work. He's a former Concord Bay narcotics cop who spent five years in prison for selling police-confiscated drugs" commented Luke.

"It looks like either months ago, his company received a wire transfer for $25.000 from an offshore account connected to our old friend, Arthur Terrell" said Tara from the office.

"Terrell was still alive back then" said JJ.

"He was, but that account has since transferred into the hands of an Edward Myles, and Mr. Myles is turning out to be very elusive"

"Yeah, 'cause although that could be a very likely alias for Mr. Lynch, that name isn't popping up anywhere in Reno" added Penelope to Prentiss' information. 

"JJ, Luke, Matt, check in with Reni PD, also our FBI field office" she ordered to those three, then added "Dave and Spence, see if you can get a sit-down with Orlando Gaines" Prentiss hung up after that last order then the team arrived to the city and they went separate ways to do what she ordered. 

And in the meantime Roberta killed the father of Everett in the most salvaged way possible. After that David received a call from Lynch wanting to see him.

They had a discussion about what to do but at the end Emily left him go to meet Lynch, with JJ as a sniper for cover.

He and Lynch talked and David tried to convince him to surrender but the Chameleon showed his cards. Olivia has diabetes and they kill him they will not find her in time for her next shot so JJ took her finger away of the trigger. 

After more research Penelope found the address were Lynch were living and sent it to JJ and Spencer.

Spencer could not see Roberta killing her child but the others doubted it. He knew she would not do it based on his quick profile at the interrogation they did to Lynch's mom.

They drove to the address and shortly after a SWAT team arrived there.

"Van to Montero. We need to surround and secure the perimeter" ordered JJ.

"Yes ma'am" said the captain of the SWAT team as they moved to the house door.

Spencer took his phone to contact Lynch and therefore Roberta.

After the phone rang five times or so Roberta answered it "is this Agent Rossi?"

"No, Roberta, my name is Doctor Spencer Reid, and it's important that you listen to me right now. Even though you have the gun, the moment your son realizes you're not gonna shoot him, he's gonna get the upper hand" JJ could not believe he still thinks she will not shot him.

"You're wrong... 'Cause my son is going to pay for what he did to Grace" said Roberta with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, but first you need to let Olivia walk out of there, ok?"

"Yeah" Roberta leaned to the young girl behind her "Olivia. Go, hurry, go"

"Now wait a second..." said Lynch trying to stop Olivia from escaping. Roberta did a warning shoot to the ground to stop him.

"Roberta?" Said Spencer at the other side of the line.

"Don't you worry. She's on her way out to you" after that a SWAT officer ran toward them with Olivia and JJ held her.

"Roberta, that warning shot is what's about to give you away, but we can help. Are you ready for us to come in? We can save you both"

"Ha!"

"You realize how this has to end right? Right?" She was having doubts. She wanted him to pay but her mother insists tell her she cannot kill her baby boy, even though he killed her beloved granddaughter. 

"Roberta?" Spencer said.

"Yes... I'm ready"

"Captain Montero, breach" Spencer got out his gun and followed the captain of the SWAT team to walked in the house.

JJ was checking out Olivia with the paramedics when Rossi called her "Rossi?"

"JJ, Roberta isn't there to kill Lynch. She's there to die with him"

She just turned and saw Spencer walking there and she tried to run to him "Spence! Stop!" Suddenly the house exploded pushing the doctor to the ground. His head hit the ground and she cannot hear for several seconds. JJ tried to help him but he was confused "Spence, are you ok?" He looked the casualties of the team he was leading in and tried to stand up "No, no, no, no. Stay down, stay down" said JJ holding him for standing.

He felt sad because those men died because of his order. What happened? he could not understand. 

The flight back was quiet and Spencer, stubbornly, denied to go to the ER to be checked. His brain was working on the plane.

He was reviewing everything from the beginning. He could not believe that Roberta was suicidal or wanted to die with her son. He held to his theory of her not being able to kill him so, why did she explode the house? Why did she let them walk in if she had that plan? She was not a mass killer. 

The flight was in silence until they arrived and JJ walked to him "Spence... I think I should drive you home, just in case" he looked at her. He was tired "please?"

He sighed "ok JJ. I don't want an argument"

They both get out of the plane and headed to her car. As she drove she looked at him from the corner of her eyes "please don't blame yourself for making the call Spence. You did what you thought was correct" 

He looked down "how couldn't I...? JJ six men lost their life... 6 families lost a father, a husband, a son, a nephew... because of me" he rubbed his forehead softly.

"Spencer..." she did not what to say "you once told me to stop blaming for Nadia and her daughter's murder. About that bomb that killed a bunch of marines... casualties are inevitable in this job and the people who joins in the bureau, the CIA, NSA, and more known very well they could die at any second. And so do their families"

He sighed more and looked down "I can't argue at the moment so I will just let it go for now"

She looked at him and took a deep breath "you don't look in good shape Spence. Please let me take you the hospital or at least call Max to come over" she handed her phone to him.

"I'm good JJ. Don't worry but if this makes you relaxed then I will go to the hospital if I'm still feeling bad" he said as she stopped by his apartment.

"Call Max or me if you need help. Please" he nodded and walked out. She looked at him and sighed. Then she decided to do it herself, knowing he will not do it.

*Hey Max, is JJ. Spence had an accident in a mission. He hit his head pretty hard so please keep an eye on him. Bye.*

Minutes later she got and answer from his best friend's girlfriend. 

*Ok JJ, thank you for the information. I'm at my dad's house but when I finished here I will go there. Good night.*

Then she left to her house but the girls called to have a ladies night so she drove to Penelope's house.

Meanwhile Spencer was walking in his apartment still thinking about what happened. His mind traveled to a memory of him with Jason.

OOooOOooOO 

"Ok children. I'm the unsub. Why do you think I did this?" Asked Gideon to the class.

An Asian girl said "because you are suicidal?"

"No, I want to see my victims suffer. Why would I die before I complete my mission?"

"Someone else caused the explosion" said a much younger Reid.

"Correct! If you profiled that your killer isn't suicidal then something else happened and you need to check the crime scene" all the students nodded and take notes "Remember kids... your profile is everything, if you have it... you won't need a gun to kill your opponent. Just your knowledge of him"

OOooOOooOO 

-It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand how that kind of personality can choose to blow itself up-

"If Roberta gave in to him... and if he took the gun away... if he could get to a tunnel..." he was just thinking making hypothesis of what happened not really realizing his nose was bleeding "Lynch... he's still alive" and with that he passed out on his carpet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so after this the episode 10 will be reworked a little bit. 
> 
> I'm not sure if I should keep using the scenes of him into "The Light" or just show some parts of it. Like some parts of Maeve conversation, changing some verbs and adding Max to the things he love.


	16. Looking for forgiveness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will have two narrators. One will be from the perspective of the livings and the other from Spencer.
> 
> Slashes will be Spencer's narrator.
> 
> Without slashes will be the livings' narrator.
> 
> I took this idea from a writer I love. He use different narrators and use different letters. I can't do it here on this page so I will use bold letters to separate them. 
> 
> Hope you like this one.
> 
> A S-Club 7 song said "Have you ever loved and lost somebody, wishing there's a chance to say I'm sorry?"

After JJ's message, Max's mind was not really there with her father. She could not concentrate in the conversation and Don noticed it after some minutes of rambling about things.

"Max? Sweetheart, are you ok?" He touches softly her arm.

"Truthfully, no dad... JJ, Spencer's coworker and best friend, texted me this" she got out her phone and read it "'Hey Max, is JJ. Spence had an accident in a mission. He hit his head pretty hard so please keep an eye on him' now I'm so worry about him" she rubbed her forehead "I have to go to check if he is alright"

"Want me to drive you there?"

"N...no I will be fine, I can do it myself, dad, thank you"

Dom could see his daughter was in so much stress and he will not let her go like that "oh no.... Maxine Brenner" she made a face when he used her full name "I will drive you there and help you if something happen to him" she sighed and nodded "now give me the key" she pouted but hand it to him.

"Dad, I'm 37 and you are treating me like a child" she said as they walked to her car.

"Do you think I care Max? You were acting like one so I will treat you like one" they got in the car and he started the car then drove it "he will be alright, he is a strong guy"

"Thank you dad" she was holding back her tears. She had a feeling he was in troubles. She was wishing she was overeating but something tell her she was not.

/Spencer walked out of the BAU and into the bullpen. He rubbed his forehead softly. Then he could see Derek, Elle, Hotch and Gideon talking. 

He tried to reach them but they disappeared. Then he looked at the other side of the room and there was Garcia. He ran toward her and when he reached her.

"I hit my head and now I'm seeing things" there was not his friend but Section Chief Erin Strauss "Section Chief Strauss?"

"Hello Spencer"

"You're dead" he said looking at her.

She laughed "I am" she said with a smile.

"Does... does that mean that I'm...?"

"No... not necessarily"

"I passed out in my apartment" He remembered scared.

"You have intracranial hemorrhage" she looked at him.

"My brain is shutting down?"

"Parts of it are. Parts of it are struggling to survive"

"Which parts are you?" 

"You need help" she led him out to the aisle where the FBI has the pictures of their dead agents.

"What if this is permanent? My mom started out hallucinating" he was looking Strauss picture on the wall. Then turned to her.

"You never displayed any signs of schizophrenia. You know that. This is your journey. Some people see corridors of light, some people see people they love. What you see is up to you"

"You symbolize my guilt, the... dead agents"

"You have to make that decision yourself" she said with a smile then her face turned more somber and serious "you'll be tempted about which way to go" she fixed his tie and put a hand on his chest in a motherly manner "don't be afraid" they both turned to see her picture one more time, when he turned to her, she was gone.

"Six agents blown to pieces" that voice sounded familiar but he couldn't believe it was him. When he turned around he confirmed his worst fears. The reaper was standing right in front of him "damn. You're gonna need a bigger boat. I gotta ask, when they kablam like that, do you have a guy that puts them back together or...? I'm talking to you, doc or it is special agent? Addict? Convict?"

Meanwhile the reaper spoke Spencer could feel his anger growing up "Shut up"

"But I have one more question. How come when I kill people, they're called victims, but when you do it, they're called casualties?" He stood close to him, face to face and continued "dead is dead. Am I right?" Then he turned to the wall and exclaimed "ooh, boy"

Suddenly next to Strauss picture, there was his and he started to laughs in an evil way. 

Then the vision moved to the room when they got details of their cases. 

While his mind remembered all the details Hotch told them about George Foyet. His body, still on the floor of his apartment, moved his fingers.

He was playing with a pencil as he looked at Foyet "Why are we here? You think this is my hell?"

"Doesn't matter what I think. I'm not in control. This is where you first met me" on the screen behind him appeared a photo of Foyet "Ha. Look at that handsome devil" Spencer turned to look the screen.

"So Strauss was the angel, and you're the devil" Spencer's mind was running analyzing his words.

"I never said that. Just the handsome part"

"Why would I picture you? Hmm? Of all the offenders that..."

"Because I killed that sweet Haley and old Aaron Hotchner was never the same. You got me" memories of everything that happened that day came to him "you know what that means. None of you were. I was the beginning of your end. This Good vs. Evil game is all you know and I'm the best your rattled brain could conjure" while Foyet talked his body on the floor continued moving his fingers./

The traffic was heavy and they had some problems getting to his apartment. 

"Damn it..." she whispered as she tried to contact him without lucky.

"Max calm down. Please text your sisters and tell them where we are and also text his coworkers maybe they are closer"

She did it, even with her shaken hands.

When Max and her father arrived to his apartment, both ran upstairs to the apartment twenty-three.

She knocked a few times, and when she could not hear his voice or footsteps, her heart started to beat faster.

"He isn't responding... Oh My God..." she panicked. 

"Sweetie calm down... just breathe" she ran her hand into her hair "do you have the key? We can get in"

"N...no yet... he hasn't gave me his apartment key yet" she has tears in her eyes, then she remembered "wait... he has a key under the mat" they both move away and she looked under it to get out the Matt and she found it.

/Spencer and Foyet walked in his apartment "Well, I hope somebody find you. That big brain's gonna be a blow of mush. What a way to go out, huh?" Foyet looked at him "slow brain bleed. And nobody knows you're here. It's tragic and yet... ironically fitting" Foyet looked at his right and said "Ahh... of course" he looked at the woman sitting on his couch "It was good to see you again, Doc" Foyet patted his shoulder and left. Spencer could not see her face but in his heart he knew he had seemed her.

Her hair was different but he knew who she was as he walked towards her "Maeve, it's you. It's really you"

"It's me" memories of her last minutes came to him. 

"Maeve, I'm so sorry" he leaned on his knee and held her hand with tears in his eyes.

"For what?" She asked at him.

"I let you die. I wasn't smart enough or fast enough to save you"

"Stop" they looked in the eyes "do you want to know my deepest darkest secret?"

"Mm-hmm" was all his answer.

"I love nineties rom-drams and rom-coms" they both laughed "the cheesier the better" she laughed more "and my favorite one was about this angel who gave up his immortality because he fell in love with a human. But they only had one day together before she was killed" that made Spencer bite his lip and looked down with tears "I always wondered why that one stuck with me. And then we lived it. Don't you dare be sorry. I have no regrets"

"I miss you" he said still crying softly.

"Gah, I miss you, too. But lucky for us, we have some time together right now"

"I need that"

"You've been holding on to trauma, a lot of it. But what sent you on this journey is something different. You're at a crossroads"

"Can you help me through it?" she nodded. 

"But first, I need to tell you something you don't hear enough of... the world is a good place" he was sobbing looking at her "and it's even better with you in it" he smiled at her "you ready?" 

"Yeah" they both stand up and were ready to leave that apartment./

Her hand was shaking as she opened the door. On the floor was Spencer, there was some dried blood that got out of his nostril.

"Oh My God!" Max ran toward him followed by her father "baby" she rubbed his chest softly to see if he woke up but nothing, Max leans in and could feel him breathing "he is alive but must faint. D...dad could you...?"

"I am calling sweetie don't worry" he waited a second as his daughter returned to look at her boyfriend "hello... I'm Dominic Brenner, I'm at my daughter's boyfriend, h...he's unconscious on his living room floor... he's breathing but he isn't responding... um... he's an FBI agent... let me check" he puts a hand on the microphone "the paramedics are on their way but she said she needs his license plate number"

"It must be in his messenger bag" she pointed at it.

Dom holder it and got it out, then returned to talk to them.

"Please... return to me Spencer" she ran her hands into his hair gently.

They take Spencer to the ambulance and went straight to the hospital. The paramedics let Max go with them and Dom followed them in her red Volkswagen.

In the ambulance he as a seizure they managed to control but they asked the driver to go faster.

"Did he have an accident?" Asked the man after they controlled it.

"Y...yes. h...he hit his head in an FBI mission. I...is he alright?" She said in a husky voice with tears running down her cheeks.

"Ok, that's helpful. He must have a concussion and if he had a seizure, it means he may have an intracranial bleeding" he checked his eyes "yeah he isn't responding. We need to get in the hospital as soon as possible"

Max held his hand tightly and whispering "you can do it Spencer... you can do it"

They arrived to the hospital and Doctor Kawamura took him to a bed in the emergency department as the paramedic explained everything he learned from Max and what he checked on their way there.

"Miss are you his wife?" Asked the doctor. 

"N...no I'm his girlfriend" the doctor nodded.

"And does he have family here?" Doctor Kawamura asked.

"H...he has his mother, she's at Brookfield"

"We will need her here but right now we will keep him in the intensive care area where we can help him quickly" she nodded "but I think he will be fine because you found him quite quickly"

"G...good" the doctor patted her shoulder and left her then she turned to hug her father crying softly.

The next morning, all the women of the BAU were passing the hangover when they discovered that Everett Lynch was still alive. And also JJ and Penelope saw their phone was full of texts from Max.

"Oh my..." said JJ when she read the messages "Spence is in the hospital"

"What? Why?" Asked Emily shocked. 

"He has an intracranial hemorrhage..." said JJ with tears in her eyes "I should take him to the hospital or to my house to keep an eye on him"

"JJ you didn't know it would happen..." tried to comfort her.

"No... you didn't see when he hit his head... he was pushed back and it must have been hard to caused it" she dropped her phone on the table "I have to go there..."

"No, we will need all the hands we have to find and catch Lynch. Penelope you go with Max. The rest we will need to send agents to protect our loved ones and let's put our efforts into find Lynch. I know our minds are with Spence but we can't risk lose Lynch" JJ has tears but nodded. It was her supervisor's order.

Penelope sent agents to ever family members of the team. She went to the hospital with Anderson to watch over them there. She also took her laptop to help the team.

/Spencer and Maeve moved from his apartment to the cemetery, more specific to Gideon's grave.

"Why are we here? I made peace with Gideon dying"

"When's the last time you saw him?"

"12 years, 7 months and 23 days ago"

Maeve opened her mouth in shock at the precision of his calculations "oh..." she laughed "you're not keeping track of disappointments at all" they smiled at that. 

"My dad wrote me a note when he left. Gideon did the same thing. He was the one that convinced me to join the team and then he left" he laughed but it was a sad one, with some tears in his eyes "all to believe in happy endings, I just... I'm sad he never got one"

"Oh, no, he got one. He's obsessed with this octopus named Mildred" Maeve started to laughs and Spencer did too "she's a prankster, and he loves hanging out an 8-limbed mollusks, trying to figure out how she became so playful and wise"

He sighed "she evolved"

"Yep. We all have to"/

Penelope arrived to the hospital with Diana and two men wearing black suits, when they saw Max with her father there, they walked towards her "hey Max, how is he?" Asked Penelope.

"He's in the IC area... they will move him to another room but he haven't wake up" Diana looked at her.

"Can I see my baby boy?" Max nodded 

"Let me tell them you are his mother. They will let you see him" said Max with a controlled voice to not scared the mother of Spencer. 

Max called a nurse and informed her that Spencer Reid's mother was there. 

Before they walked in Max walked to her "Diana, Spencer fell and he hit his head really hard and he's not conscious"

"Well, let's wake him up. Let's see him"

"No, wait" said Penelope and Max as they try to stop her.

"He'll listen to me. Spencer" Diana walked towards his bed "it's not him. No. No , no, no. This is not my son" said Diana really sure of that, Max looked at her a little confused and so did Penelope but did not same anything, then her eyes fell to his wrist. Where she noted a little star on it and she remembered what happened, he fell when he was a little boy trying to walk on a fence with a broomstick, she started to cry and that made Max and Penelope to also cry "oh, my baby" she rubbed his head and chest "oh, please"

/"Why did you fight us?"

"If I die, I'll let down my mom... the team, everybody who depends on me" said Spencer as he looked at Maeve.

"Ohh..." they both sat down "family is resilient and as for strangers, people were hurt before you joined the BAU, and they'll get hurt whenever you leave" 

"I guess, I'm stuck"

"More like frozen from grief. Your father's physical absence, your mother's psychological one, me"

"It's paralyzing"

"How do you move through it when you can't move?"

"You go back to the beginning" he looked at her and had some tears then added "I met someone... Max, she and I had been together for a month and twelve days. She is amazing and I think she is my new beginning" he looked at Maeve, she smiled at him and nodded "and I... I grew up telling stories about who I was... son, friend... student, teacher, genius"

"Hero. You seek and gain approval by anyone. It's time to stop" 

"What if my brain's bleeding out 'cause there's nothing left for me to do?"

"The world needs you to do what you love. Have you done that?" 

He thought about it "I don't know"

"Sure you do. What do you love?" 

"I love magic and ghost stories" he laughed softly.

"Fidding with your pen like me. What else?"

"Jell-o..." she laughed "kumquats... uh... teaching, learning, books, hope... making connections... making... making a difference... I love Max, she made me feel... normal, she showed me that I can be someone outside the FBI and make me realized that I'm not just a big brain" Maeve smiled at him "and I love the moment we both shared... our long conversations about everything and nothing" they both laughed.

She sighed "that's a lot to love"/

Back in the hospital "Mrs. Reid?" Diana and Penelope looked at the doctor, they were in the room as Max went home because she had not sleep since the day before and she needed to be fresh to stay with him after Diana left to her hospital. 

"The conservative approach would be surgery. It may reduce the swelling around Spencer's brain faster. There is risk. It could cause seizures and even more bleeding"

"I thought it was Tuesday, and it's not Tuesday. And so I can't tell you"

Penelope looked at the doctor "could we have a minute?" 

"Sure" and the doctor Kawamura left the room.

"What would he want? I don't want to make the decision"

"Diana, you know, one time Spencer told me that you and I are two of the smartest people he knows. I guess there's some study that shows that the heart and the stomach have like cell of consciousness, like a second brain. And I get it that your brain has done things to attack Spencer sometimes, but your heart and your guts have always known what's best for him. Am I right?"

"Yes" 

"So we're just gonna use our brilliant insides to make a brilliant choice for Spencer right now, ok?" Diana nodded. That moment Spencer had a seizure and both women were panicked.

"Oh no!... what's happening to my boy?" His doctor and some nurses ran to his bed to help him "what is happening to him?" 

/"Look, there's no wrong choice, but you have to decide. You can stick around on the blue marble or travel out into the great unknown. It's time. What are you gonna do?" Spencer was still thinking part of him want all the suffering to stop but other part want to return. 

"You remember out one and only fight?"

"About the world's greatest poet?"

"We were on the phone for, I think four hours"

"You need to find that kind of passion"

"I have a different kind of passion. I love talking with Max about things like art and old movies. She is an artist and she loves those stuffs"

"See? You have something to put on your weight. And make the right decision"

"First I need to know if your favorite is still..."

"E.E. Cummings... "Whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people, but the moment you feel you're nobody but yourself...""

"..."to be nobody but yourself... in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else, means to fight... the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting"" he finished that quote with a sigh and hugged her like.

"Spencer..." Diana's voice sounded at that moment and when he turned Maeve was gone"/

"Spencer can you hear me?" Said Diana again and he opened his eyes a little "hi" then closed them

"That's a good sign"

"Is he gonna be ok?" Asked Penelope 

"He's putting up one hell of a fight. But it's still too early to know for sure. I need to keep him for tests"

"Excuse me" Penelope left the room and answered her phone informed the team how was Spencer and JJ will be there as soon as possible. Then Penelope did her job and decided to left to stay outside the room.

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the second part of the episode 10. Where I will write his awakening.


	17. The Aftermath

A few hours later Max arrived to the hospital. She walked to his room, and there were Diana and Penelope. 

She stood there, leaning against the door frame as both women talk about him.

"Has he been here before?" Asked Diana "in the hospital, like this?" Max was wondering the same.

"Yes" her heart skip a beat, just imagined him like this.

"Were you here for him?"

Penelope nodded and smiled "yes"

"Aw, how awful" 

"It was, actually" she looked down and then looked at the door, Penelope realized there was Max and continued "and then there was the time agent Hotchner was in the hospital. And Morgan's wife" Max did not know her but she met him and she just could imagined him been worry about her "and JJ earlier this year, and... me" she seemed like remember that day and the usually happy Penelope's face turned into a sober face "Yeah, I've... I've actually been in hospital more times than I am caring to admit. Sometimes I think there's got to be a better way, you know?" She looked sad and thoughtful "there's got to be a better place"

"There is. There is for all of us" Diana commented and then turned and saw Max "oh Max, come in" 

She walked in and smiled "sorry but my dad asked me to take a nap before I returned here, I haven't sleep since yesterday" she looked at Spencer in his bed "how is he?"

"He is stable. He opened his eyes for a brief moment and the doctor said it was good" explained Penelope, then Max nodded and held his hand gently.  
"Good, I'm happy he is getting better" Diana rubbed Max's back.

"I'm more happy you found him" she said looking at her son's girlfriend "it could have been worse if you didn't find him soon"

"Thanks JJ, she told me about his accident" she smiled with some tears "he's so stubborn that I bet he wouldn't let the paramedics check him"

"Yeah, you are right" then Diana told them some events in his life where he was stubborn and both, Max and Penelope, laughed softly. Then Diana looked at him and smiled "Spencer, I saw some cumuliform heaps today" then she looked at the two women "his favorite clouds. I plucked that for him. Everything is up there and we pluck what we want when we want and we let go what we don't"

"That sounds very good" Penelope said "ok, I'm plucking a memory about Spencer's eyes, and they are brown with gold on the outside" Max smiled at that.

"Oh yeah his eyes are beautiful, but I think they are gold on the inside" both looked at Max when she said so then she added "I'm plucking a memory about his smiles. That sweet smile he has when he throw facts about things or even his little smirk when he wins at poker or chess" Penelope and Diana nodded.

"Yeah he learned to play poker when he was little and before he moved to Virginia to do the profiling course at the FBI, he was banned to walk in the biggest casinos in the city"

"He told me and I tried to warm my sisters and dad but they didn't listen"

Then suddenly they saw Spencer opening his eyes and Diana said "gold on the inside"

"Hey, we were just plucking memories of you" said Penelope smiling 

"I heard you" he said with a raspy voice "forgot how much I loved those clouds, mom. You helped me remember" he said looking at his mom then looked at Max "hey Max, I'm happy to see you" he smiles gently.

"I'm happy to see you too" she leaned in and kisses his forehead running her hand on his hair "I was so worry about you sweetheart"

Then Diana looked at the nurse from Brookfield and said her son "Spencer, maybe I can come back tomorrow and we can watch clouds together"

"Am I alive, or is this heaven?"

"Sweetie, you are very much alive" Penelope and Max signed as Diana rubbed his hair "I will see you tomorrow" then she turned to Max "take good care of him, ok?"

"Don't worry, I will" she smiled looking at him.

"I'm not worry. I know it" Diana Reid smiled and left the room with her nurse.

Both women turned to him "Can I have some water?" He asked still a little dizzy 

"Sure babe" she called the nurse and when she arrived Max asked if they can give him some water. She nodded and returned with some ice cubes. 

"He can't drink from a glass yet so we have these cubes" she handed her some and Max gave him some and when he was satisfied she put them away.

"Now rest Spencer, you are still too weak" said Max softly running a hand on his hair. He did not need to hear it twice, he just closed his eyes again and fall asleep, Max kissed his head.

Meanwhile Penelope got a call from the team telling her Lynch was dead. She got excited, then they mentioned her that Rossi broke his leg so they were heading to the hospital. 

JJ asked her about Spencer, she told her and the rest of the team the situation then hung up and walked inside. 

"They catch Lynch. He's dead so I told Anderson and Fernandez to leave" she looked at Spencer. 

"Good news, that Lynch was a really bad guy, huh?"

"Yes he was. He made the house exploded and that made boy wonder to have that concussion" Max looked at her then at him "but he talked and he knew who we were, and I'm sure his brain is ok" Max nodded.

"I think so too. Now that he woke up I'm less worry" she looked at him "when I found him, his breathing was slow and so was his pulse" Penelope held her hand "it was horrible"

"I'm sure it was. But thanks to you and your dad, he is alright"

"Yeah... you are right" she smiled "and... um... how did you end up in the hospital? I mean you're not a field agent like Spence"

"Oh... um... well that happened because I was trying to help the families of some unsolved cases. The guy thought I was investigating him so he fake to have a date with me and shoot me in front of my apartment building"

"Oh my..."

"Yeah and he ended up been a man with hero complex who shoot people to try to act like a hero. But then his victims died and he was the hero even though the people died" Max looked at her and nodded "thankfully JJ shoot and kill him"

"Oh that's great and I'm happy that man can't bother you anymore" Max said looking at her "and why were you so sad when you said that you wish there's got to be a better place?"

Penelope sighed "well, mostly because this job affected me emotionally, I have to watch dead people, I have to read terrible things that causes people to kill and I have to visit hospitals more often than the average people" she looked at Spencer in bed "so I'm thinking seriously about leaving the BAU, using my abilities to do something least dangerous and I will be helping too"

"I understand, I have been dating Spencer for a while, if we include dates without been a couple, and I'm nervous when he goes on a case. I love him and I want him to do what he loves but also to be safe"

"That's what I feel about my furry friends, they meant a lot to me and if I lose any of them, I would be devastated. That's why I think it's better to leave and don't see more gory thing" Max nodded.

"Did you tell them?"

"I mentioned an opportunity in the Silicon Valley but I'm thinking to see if I can find something like that here. This is my home with my friends and I don't want to move there"

"I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities here for you. Programming is a profession with lots of opportunities"

"Thank you for listening Max. I will add you to the BAU girls WhatsApp group to invite you to our wild parties on weekends" Max laughed softly.

"I would love to but only on weekends. I'm an art teacher and I need to be sober for my little angels" she smirked gently "and I'm thankful because you made me relax. I was tense with all this" the two women hugged each other. 

Then Penelope's phone vibrated "hey JJ, what's up?"

"We are in the hospital. Where are you?"

"I'm at Spencer's room with Max"

"Ok which one?"

"Room 229" said the TA of the BAU.

"Ok see you" they hung up.

"It was JJ, she wants to see Spencer and talk to us for a while" Max nodded then they walked out the room and the blonde woman walked to them with Luke "hey blondie and newbie what are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too Garcia" said the man rolling his eyes but with a little smile "hello Max, how's Reid?"

"He's stable, he woke up and talked to us and his mom. He wanted water but since he was weak they gave him some ice cube"

"What did the doctor say?" Asked JJ.

"She said it was a good sign but they have to wait. I guess tomorrow they will run some test to see his brain. But our baby genius is weak as Max said"

"Can we see him? Oh by the way Penelope, Dave broke his leg. You should go see him. He's in an ER room" said JJ.

"Sure, he's sleeping but you can go in, I will go get something to eat and we can go to see David" JJ nodded at Max and then both of them walked to find Rossi while JJ and Luke checked Spencer.

Luke talked to him wishing he got better soon so they can keep kicking bad guys butts and then decided to leave JJ alone with him.

There was a silence while Luke walked out the room then the blonde woman walked to him "Spence... I called you can hear me and... I... I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you from that explosion and that i wasn't more stubborn than you and forced you to check your head... maybe this would never happen and you would have been there when Everett Lynch died" she wiped the tears off her eyes "when you get better I will tell you everything and I hope it would be very soon" she leaned in and kissed his forehead "sleep well" then she left the room and walks back to the ER to check out Rossi who was getting a cast.

Then Max returned to Spencer's room alone. Penelope had to go home and JJ offered her the ride and the other members of the team needed to sleep.

Max laid on the couch with a pillow and a blanket the hospital gave her and falls asleep hugging an Spencer shirt that she took from his closet while he was taking a shower. 

It was her teddy bear when he was not with her. She was happy he survived this and that he still will be with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more focus on showing what happened before and after he woke up in the hospital, with the addition of Max in it. 
> 
> Hope you liked it. I'm sure where I should finish this story because I would like to show more of their relationship, his proposal, their marriage and when they have kids but I am not sure if I should let the time move slowly or do time jumps. What do you think?


	18. Special meetings

The next morning Max woke up early and check on Spencer, who was still sleeping. She walked to the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth then she walked back in and Spencer was opening his eyes softly.

"Hello there handsome" she walked to him and ran her hand on his head "how did you sleep?"

"Fine but I'm still feel tired" he said looking at her.

"Of course, you had a tough day yesterday" she said to him "just take it easy, ok baby?" He nodded.

His doctor walked in "oh I see you are awake Doctor Reid. How are you feeling?"

"Fine but tired"

"That's normal, you had intracranial hemorrhage and your body was in a lot of stress, headache?" She asked as she checked his eyes, he nodded softly "ok, that's also normal. We will do MRI and a transcranial doppler. The first to check your brain function and the second to check your blood pressure to your brain and if there is more bleeding"

He nodded softly "ok doctor"

"Perfect, we will schedule both for today at night so you can rest some more" she said and he falls back to sleep then she looked at Max "can I talk with you?"

"Sure" she said and both women walked out of the room.

"Well I think bringing his mom here yesterday to make decisions was a mistake, I didn't know she wasn't capable of that due to her schizophrenia and alzheimer so I think you should make them"

"Oh no, I don't feel prepared to do it"

"Miss Brenner. You are his girlfriend and I'm sure you can make the right decisions for him to be safe" Max sighed. 

"And what do I have to decide on?"

"Nothing yet but in the future you may do. Right now I will leave him rest and recover. But he understood what we said and he spoke coherently so that part of his brain is working" the doctor continued "I think his brain is pretty much at ninety-eight percentage fine but we will need some test"

"And when he will be able to leave?"

"Once we check him and make sure he will be fine, we can let him go back home and will be on medical leave for a month. I would like if you stay with him while he's at home"

"Sure no problem"

"Perfect. I will go write his name on the list for those exams and you should rest too. He needs his girlfriend to be healthy" she nodded.

"I will, I just going for breakfast oh and I was wondering if he will be able to eat today"

"Yes we will go to his room in an hour to give him some food" 

"Ok thank you doctor" then Max walked to cafetera and bought a sandwich and coffee then she went back to his room and ate while reading a book. 

Two hours later she was focused in her book when suddenly heard his voice "what are you reading?" 

She looked up and smiled "I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray"

"Oh... great choice. It shows an hedonistic point of view and it was very polemic back then but now it's a classic"

"Yeah I already read it but I lent it and my former roommate left before she ended it and instead of returning it, she took it with her"

"That's terrible, that's why I never lend my books, even to my closest friends"

She nodded and smiled "yeah after that I decided to not lend them anymore" she stood up and walked to him "you look more like yourself. I guess those naps are helping" she ran her hand into his hair "do you need anything?"

"I'm hungry and thirsty" he looked at her and held her hand 

"I will call the nurse to get you something" he nodded and she pushed the button of the nurse center "doctor K said that you will need help when you get discharged so I will stay with you on your medical leave" he was about to protest but Max gave him a warning look "I won't accept a no for an answer"

"Ok I understand and I guess that stubbornness brought me here right?" He smiles. 

"I guess that big brain is working just fine" she smirked, then the nurse walked in. 

"Oh look who is awake" she said looking at his signals and that everything was working fine "I will get you lunch, because breakfast time had already ended. It will be here in a few minutes" both nodded and the nurse left.

Max was rubbing his hand softly "want me to read to you while we wait?" He nodded and she got her book then sat on a small piece of the bed and started to read to him. She was already reading chapter 5 so when she started Spencer knew exactly what happened before thanks to his eidetic memory.

Some minutes later the nurse arrived with his food. Chicken soup, ground meat with rice, juice and jell-o. Max moved to sit back on the chair and looked as he smiled when he saw the jell-o.

"You are like a kid when you see that" she laughed softly "its weird and adorable at the same time"

"I love them since I was a kid" he laughed and started to eat "are you going to take lunch?"

"Yeah I will but no yet" she put in her bag her book. She looked at him as he ate then she saw JJ and Emily out the door she just stood up and walked out of the roo..

"Oh hey" said Emily holding a balloon saying 'Get better' on it "how are you?" They walked in.

"We are fine" said Max smiling at them "Spencer, as you can see, is eating so I guess he's recovering fast"

"That's great" JJ smiled "and did you take lunch?" She shook her head "if you want you can go to get some food, maybe a shower while we are here with Spence"

"Sure, the doctor will take him to some test in an hour so you can keep him company while I'm gone" the two women nodded. Then they all walked in "honey, look who are here to visit you" she pointed to her coworkers "I will go back to my apartment and I will be here soon. Love you" she kissed him softly.

"Ok see you later. Love you too" then she left the room and went to her car.

In the room Spencer commented "Everett Lynch's still alive" he said with worry in his tone.

Both women smiled and sat down "we found it out the next day"

"Really?... how...?"

"The forensic analysis said one of the bodies was Roberta but the one we thought was Lynch was actually the deceptive"

"Oh my..." said Spencer drinking some juice "I figured it based on the hypothesis of him using a tunnel" he rubbed his forehead softly.

"Hey genius calm down" said Emily "you don't need to analyze it. We already killed him"

"How?" They explained what happened "wait... JJ blown up the jet?" JJ nodded biting her lip "but that's impossible... the diesel it use doesn't ignite at that temperature. It's not like gas so a flare gun can't be used to turn on the diesel"

"And there is the Spencer we love" said JJ laughing "I don't why it happened but it did and Everett Lynch is dead" 

"How's Rossi?"

"With a cast at home" answered Emily "I'm happy we got him and that every member of the team is alive. With scratches but alive" she smiled.

"Totally, I'm happy, I think this was just another big test for our team, and we passed it" the two women smiled then they talked some more until the doctor arrived to take him back to run the tests.

Thirty minutes later he was back, Emily went to get some coffee for her and JJ so when he arrived there was just JJ.

"Where's Emily?"

"She's getting coffee. How were the tests?"

"I don't know, doctor K will give me the results later. JJ can I tell you something?"

"Sure Spence, anything"

"Well... um... during my time unconscious I had, once again, one of those near-death hallucinations" she covered her mouth "and there was Maeve... it felt so real" he had some tears "she asked me what I love and she asked me to do what I love"

"And what do you love?"

"Lot of things but one of them is Max and after what happened I feel like the next move should be..."

"Pop the question?" She smirked looking at him as he smiled and nodded "well that's something very common in this unit. Will and I, Derek and Savannah, Rossi and Krystall" they both laughed "and if I have to bet, Andrew could do the same sooner than later"

"Would love to join that bet" they laughed.

"How will you propose to her?"

"I would like to do it outside the hospital. Maybe at the park we met"

"Sounds lovely Spence, I'm sure she will love it. She is lucky to have you" she smiled and he nodded.

"Thank you JJ"

"For?"

"For everything. I know you were worry about me when I was here, unconscious. You are my bestfriend" she held his hand. 

"I said this when you were sleeping but I want you to know that I'm sorry, I didn't insist you hard enough to get checked after the explosion... Hotch could be so disappointed we didn't take care of you"

"It's ok JJ. I was full of regret for the dead of the SWAT team. I wouldn't listen" he looked down.

Then Emily walked in "JJ we have to go... we have a case" they both looked at him "Max is on her way so you won't be alone for so long" he nodded. 

"Go save the day" he smiled as both women hugged him and leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it for now. What do you think? And I would like some ideas for his proposal, have one but I would like to read yours and if I like it I will use it and give you the credit.


	19. Confessions x Dates x Decisions

The next day, the doctor informed Spencer that he can leave that afternoon because his MRI was clean and he was more like himself. 

Max went to his apartment to get him some clothes and to leave her suitcase in there. Then she drove back and find him with her dad and sisters.

"So maybe we can watch the movie when you get better" said Dom

"Which movie dad?" Max asked as she walked in.

"Psycho. Spencer wanted to watch it... again and I'm sure Eloise will love it" his youngest daughter rolled her eyes laughing. 

"Sure dad, we will see" they all laughed "well I guess you have to leave now, Spencer will leave this place in an hour right?"

"Yeah. I will stay with him all his medical leave"

"Ok, take care Spencer and take it easy" he nodded then the Brenner family hugged him then Max and left the room.

"I brought you some clothes. So while I sign up some papers and the doctor gives me the instructions we have to follow during this month, you change and I will come back to go to my car"

"Ok" he smiled and stood up holding her hand then she left him.

At the nurse station the doctor made her sign the papers of his discharge and said to her "ok Ms Brenner. He can't do heavy exercises or lifting heavy things, he can't drive during this week, he can't watch movies with light effects like The Incredibles 2, he will need a healthy diet and do some mental exercise, maybe two hours so he doesn't get exhausted. He can't drink coffee only green tea or chamomile but no coffee, at least for this month and no alcohol" she nodded looking at the list the doctor gave her "I talked to Doctor Hank Thompson to check him in two weeks. He's a neurologist and after he said his brain is out of danger, we can let him do more things"

"Ok perfect. The alcohol will be easy because he doesn't drink it but coffee will be a challenge"

"You can do it. I trust you" Max laughed gently and nodded.

"Thank you doctor. Can I call if I have a question?"

"Of course and take care of yourself and him" Max nodded and went back to his room.

When she arrived he was sitting on the couch and looking at her "are we ready?"

Max nodded "yes let's go handsome. I have to get some stuffs at the store and guess what? You are coming with me" he laughed and stands up then held her hand and both walked to the door as she explained everything the doctor said. 

"Yeah I imagined they would say I can't drink coffee. I stopped it when I was having migraines a few years ago but when I got better I started to drink it again" he smiled at her. 

"Good" they arrived to her car and she opened the passenger door for him then went to the driver side and got in.

"It was weird" she laughed at that.

"Yeah, normally it was you, my sweet gentleman, who opened the door for me" she held his hand gently and kissed it "but don't worry, in a week you will be able to drive again and be my gentleman again"

He smiled and held her face with his free hand and kissed her, then she started the car and got out of the hospital parking lot. 

She drove to a market close to his apartment and parked there. Then they bought some food the doctor recommended and, of course, Spencer gave her facts about each of them and how they will help him.

Then she paid and they left and some minutes later they were in his apartment, she forced him to lay down while she put the food in the fridge and the meat in the freezer.

She later walked in and saw him sleeping, she smiled and decided to cook dinner. So Max walked back to the kitchen and started to make a soup, salad and meatballs. 

She was focused in and she did not listened to him walk in "hey Max"

She jumped scared "Spencer... you scared me, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good and I'm sorry if I scared you. You were so focus that you didn't listen me walk in" he sat down looking at her as she cook "what are you cooking?"

She explained the menu and he just nodded and smiled at her "Spencer, what do you plan to do after this medical leave?"

He looked at her then down biting his lip "well I'm still thinking. Because in my unconsciousness I... I have one of those... um... you know close death experience" she lifted her eyebrow "I know it sounds weird but I had it and I saw Maeve, a woman I was in love but she died in front of me the first time we saw each other" he could read her expression of confusion "she had been stalking by someone. At the moment we thought it was a man but them we discovered it was a woman who was upset because she didn't accept her PhD thesis"

"Just because of that?"

"Yes, because her thesis was about a personal theme so she won't accept a no because it means her believes would crumble" 

"Wow... you have a deal with all kind of freaks in this world"

He laughed and nods "oh if I told you... I think you would lose hope in humanity" she laughed softly "ok back to the main idea... she asked in this hallucination I was doing what I love"

"And what do you love exactly?"

"Well I love studying, teaching, books, make the difference, make connections, hope, I love you" she blushed softly "so I think I'm doing some of them but I feel like the BAU is a double-edged sword because I make the difference but at the same time it kills part of me... metaphorically speaking"

"Well not so metaphorically..."

"True" he smiled looking down "the thing is that I have three options. The first is leave the BAU, the second is stay as a consultant source which means I don't need to be with the team to help them, and the third one is stay as a field agent"

"Ok... I like the second" she said getting out of the oven the meatballs and placed them in the tomatoes sauce "but is it what you want?"

"I think that option is the safest for me and for our relationship, because this job also taught me that couples normally never last with such schedules"

"You know I will support you whichever you decided to do Spence" she walked to him and sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck "I love you and, for me, you are a hero for what you did, do and will do" she kisses him.

He hugged her "thank you for this, and I will make the right choice"

"The right choice is the one you feel happy and you feel comfortable with"

"You are so intelligent" he smiled and she blushed. 

"I will finish these food so we can eat then we can cuddle, maybe watch a movie" he nodded then she stood up and went to the stove to finished the food"

Some minutes later they both eat what she cooked. Spencer then helped her to wash the dishes and both went to his bedroom, changed their clothes and laid there together. 

They hugged and she rubbed softly his hair until he fell asleep then she did.

They spent that week playing board games, doing light walks around where he lives and watching movies in streaming. 

When Spencer was allowed to drive again, he invited Max on a date. He took her to Williamsburg, they spent the day there watching the museums and going on tours around there.

It was a historical place and they have fun watching some historical representation before they headed to a restaurant. 

The restaurant had Virginia typical dishes and the decorations were typical of the 18th century. 

They ate their dinner there and then he drove back to DC.

"Did you have fun?" He asked as he drove.

"Yeah, I loved all the esthetic of that place, it's all on point of that period of time. Even the painting they picked to decorate it"

"Yeah and with the old English accent and words. Very accurate" he smiled.

"We are history nerds, aren't we?" She laughed and he followed her.

"Yes I think we are" the rest of the ride back home was in silence. When they reach DC he took the way to the park where they met.

"Um... where are you going?" She asked a little lost because his house was the other way.

"I'm heading somewhere else before we go back home"

She lifted her eyebrow but did not say anything else. He drove some more and parked his car at the park where they met.

"Want to walk around?" She looked around and nodded. He got out the car and walked to her door and opens it, he held her hand and they walked to the park.

They walked in silence, not an awkward but comfortable, they got the the food truck Spencer found her after leaving the hospital.

"Do you want a coffee?" She looked up at him lifting an eyebrow "I won't drink one, I will order hot chocolate or tea" she laughed and nodded so he walked there, ordered and pay then wait for them.

He walked back to her and handed her cup "so why are we here Spencer?" He looked at her innocently "oh don't give me that look. I can tell something is up"

"Why do you think something is happening?"

"Just tell me"

He sighed and drank some more of his chocolate "ok Max" he looked at her "I love you and I wanted to brought you here because this place is full of good memories and that's what makes people happy... and did you know that sm..."

"Spence... I love when you ramble and give me useful facts but... go straight to the point"

"Ok" he took a deep breath and moved his hand to her hair, to places a lock of hair behind her ear. He did an extra move of his wrist and when he moved his hand away there was the ring Diana gave him, Max looked at it and covered her mouth with her hand "remember what I told you that day in my kitchen a week ago?" She nodded with some tears "well I made the decision to do one of the things that I love... I love you and I don't want to lose time, especially after what happened to me a week and 4 days ago so..." he held her hand and looked in her eyes "Maxine Brenner, will you marry me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a silence, a long one for a nervous Spencer, he was holding his breath and then she nodded "yes, I will Spencer" he smiled and put the ring on her finger then they kissed.
> 
> I would like to thank Bohogal1998 for the idea of Williamsburg. I had to do some research and summon my inner Spencer Reid to throw some facts to you. 
> 
> I hope you liked it and that you find this cute and sweet. The magic trick to propose was something I had in my mind for a while and I hope I did it alright.
> 
> I would like some options of universities in Washington or Virginia because I will stick with the canon about part time consulting and teaching, also because I love Reid teacher.
> 
> Read you soon.


	20. We could be heroes, just for one day

The next day Max told her family and her sisters were so excited and her dad was crying happy tears because his second daughter will get married and with a good man.

Spencer also talked to his mother and told her, he proposed and Max said yes. Diana was excited and could not wait for the wedding. 

After that the rest of their week was calm, she got an email from the Smithsonian saying she will have a class with Mentally Retarded Children and it will be the last test.

Spencer helped her with lots of tips about how to work with them.

"I have an idea, I did it with the first grade kids at school, I gave them a huge piece of paper and pour yellow, blue and red on each one. Then asked them to mix them and do a painting with their hands"

"That's sounds perfect, Mentally Retarded Children are very kinesthetic, they like to touch and feel things, some can't talk so thankfully their mothers will be there to help you. And I'm sure they never did such things like what are suggesting because teachers could be afraid of their mess but if you threat them with love and respect, they will do like preschool kids and clean when you ordered it"

"Ok, sounds awesome Spence" she kissed him and then texted the Smithsonian to let them know what she will need for the course.

"I will send my CV to some universities around Virginia and DC. If they offer me something good I will totally stop been a field agent but keep consulting"

"Is it what you want?"

"Yes, as I told you, I enjoyed teaching and giving lectures" he looked at her "when will be your course?"

She read on her phone "on Friday, why?"

"Aww... I can't go see you. My MRI will be that day" he pouts at her "I wanted to see that class"

"Its ok, I will ask someone to record it for you to see it. Also I always take pictures of the works"

"Great" then they continue to work on their laptops. 

He sent his CV to Georgetown University,  
George Washington University and some other universities around the town. 

When she was done with her job and he sent all the emails, they went to the kitchen and got some icecream and watched a movie.

That week passed quickly and on Friday he went to the hospital after took her to the Smithsonian. 

When he arrived the nurse took him to the MRI room, they did the exam and sent it to his doctor then the neurologist called him in.

"Doctor Reid? Hi I'm Doctor Hank Thompson, nice to meet you" a man in his mid-forties, dirty blonde hair, glasses and a kind smile said to him "I will be your neurologist, please follow me" Spencer followed him into his office "ok so the MRI just arrived to my email so we will compare the one Doctor K made you when you arrived and today's to see how is your brain going"

He opened his email and downloaded both exams and put them one next to the other "ok as you can see, this one..." he pointed the screen "...was the first one. There's the blood and your brain was convulsed and swollen. The other is from today"

"It looks better" said Spencer and the doctor nodded.

"Yes, it is much better than I thought. Because you had two seizures and maybe you were two hours without medical help so I'm surprised, even looking at you walking or analyzing a MRI" he smiled "we don't use this word so often but it's truly a miracle you don't have side effects"

"So you think I can go back with my normal life?"

"Not quite... I mean you are better than I thought but still it's dangerous because your brain is still swollen and I will recommend you to stay at home the last two weeks of your medical leave and after that you shouldn't do stressful things like chase criminals into woods or something like that"

"Ok Doctor" said Spencer nodding gently.

"Also you can do fine motor skill to wake your brain and help it do new connections also read and write. It will help your brain. Ok?" Spencer nodded.

"I still get tired reading to much. I love to read so that a problem"

"I understand and it's normal due to the hemorrhage but keep doing for short periods of time, rest an hour or two and continue. It's like exercising your brain" he nodded "well for now that's all. I hope the next time we see each other, your brain is at it's full capacity because for what I saw, it's truly remarkable" he stood up "who is staying with you? Cause Doctor K said you weren't alone"

"My fiancee"

"That's great and congratulations. I wish I could meet her"

"She wanted to come today but she had something important to do so..."

"It's ok and maybe the next to me she will be your wife because I want to set the next date in two months, which I think it's perfect because the brain will be totally fine by that time" 

"Ok thank you doctor" Spencer stood up and held his hand "it was nice to meet you" the man nodded and then Spencer walked out to his car.

He drove back to the museum and noticed that Max hadn't finished so he got out the car and walked to where she told him she will be at.

When he arrived he saw her talking with a mother while her child hugged Max. He smiled at that. She kissed the boy's head and the mother walked away meanwhile a guy from the museum was helping her getting her stuffs in her bag.

Spencer walked to her "hey I'm looking for the most beautiful teacher around here" he said using his confused voice. 

Max turned and smirked "oh and how does this teacher look like?" She asked playing his game. 

"Well she has this beautiful wavy light brown hair and stunning brown eyes" he smiled at her as he walked towards her.

"Um... I'm not sure I saw her, mister, maybe look in the other auditorium" she also walked to him "but you know what, I gotta say, she is very lucky that this tall and handsome man is looking for her"

He blushed softly and looked at her as they were face to face "how was your day?" He held her hand. 

"Amazing, those kids were fantastic, their enthusiasm for the activity was out of the scale"

"That's great, and when I arrived I saw you talking to a woman with her child"

"Yeah, she is Mrs. Rodriguez, she was thankful for this activity. Her son loves arts but the other teachers just let this group work with crayons, I'm the first one who use other things to let them paint" her eyes started to fill with tears "she and the other mothers were pleased with this and they hope I get the job"

Spencer hugged her as she placed her face on his chest "you made the difference today and I'm sure you will get this Max" he kissed her head. 

"H...how was your MRI?" She looked up at him. 

"It was great. The doctor said I need to do some fine motor skills and reading to help my brain getting better but it's not as swollen as the last one. He insisted on take the full time of my medical leave. He set my next appointment in two weeks"

"That's great and I will take good care of you" she smiled and rubbed his cheek "want to eat out today? I want pizza" she laughed softly.

"Sure, need help with anything?"

"No I got these" he nodded then both of them walked to his car talking about the course. 

She told him everything and when they were waiting for their pizza she showed him pictures of the painting. They were messy but beautiful and she could not be more happy with the results.

After that the third week was more relaxed. They went to her dad's house to watch old horror movies. They were black and white and Spencer brought some more modern movies but still classics.

The last week of his medical leave he got an email from Georgetown University, they wanted him to be part of his staff. They payment was good and the schedule was perfect for him. So after that he asked Emily for a meeting. 

She told him to go on Wednesday afternoon to talk. When the day arrived he explained Emily what he was thinking about the job, how dangerous it was and that he will build a family with Max and he did not want to be like his father, who left them when he was a kid. 

He decided to be a consultant for the BAU and teach at Georgetown University. Emily understood his decision and wished him good luck. He will fly with them and see the evidence but he will not have to take risks. 

And he will have always permission to miss a case when he had a class. Spencer thanked her and hugged her.

Then she informed him about the party Rossi organized for Penelope. She will be leaving the bureau to join a company that protects the environment. He was invited and Max too.

Meanwhile Max was at the bullpen talking with the team members about her recent job offer and their engagement.

All the girls were throwing ideas about it and were excited about it. When he walked out JJ walked towards him and smiled "well congratulations on your engagement Spence" she hugged him and he hugged her back.

"Thank you JJ. I was so nervous at that moment, I don't know how I performed that magic trick with shaking hands"

"You can do those tricks with your eyes closed so I'm not surprised at all" she laughed "I can't wait to see that because I truly believe you deserve your happy ending" she smiled at him.

"Thank you JJ" he smiled back and then walked to Max and the team talked some more then the couple left to the apartment. 

When the day of the party arrived they got ready two hours before and then they left to Rossi's house.

Both of them walked in with Tara "Oh, not tonight you're not, my friend. This is gonna be the celebration to end all celebrations. Full commitment everyone" said Tara. 

"You got it" said Rossi.

"Can't believe it. The band is breaking up" said Will with JJ by his side.

"How you feeling, kid?" Asked Dave to Reid.

"I'm feeling great, and I'm starting back next week. Can't let the team be down two members" he said smiling looking at them holding Max hand.

"Oh, come on, teaching and consulting?" Said Tara "you're making me look bad"

"Just doing what I love" he looked at Max then added "also Dave, you didn't know because you were recovering from your foot but... um... Max and I are going to get married"

"Oh! Congratulations kid" Rossi smiled at him and Max. 

"I will drink to that" added Luke standing next to Max. 

"Uh, you're not supposed to start the festivities until the Belle of ball has arrived" screamed Penelope walking out to the backyard.

"Don't worry, ok" said Luke handing her a cup of champagne. Spencer held up a glass of water since he cannot drink alcohol yet "cause this is gonna be the first of many"

"Penelope, congratulations" said Kristy "here I thought we were coming to celebrate Dave's retirement, but Matt said it was your farewell party. And you had like a hundred offers"

"Oh, that's only of you round up, but yes" they all laughed softly "anyways, it's nonprofit, it's close to here, and the dress code isn't all FBI conservative like I've been having to do" they all rolled their eyes because they all know she never really followed that code.

"I'm still in denial that you're leaving so..." commented JJ.

"It won't be the same without you" said Matt.

"Better not be"

"Dave decided he wasn't going to retire. He didn't want the team to go through too much of a transition all at once" explained Emily.

"That's cause Dave's never gonna actually do it" said Krystall as they all laughed. 

"Hey, look, being with you all, doing what few others can, that's where I belong" the night was starting but some team members already had tears after that "but this night is not about me. To our beloved Penelope"

"Ohh!" 

They all raised their cups and said at the same time "A salut" and clinked the cups.

They then when to the table as others people from the FBI and that were friends with her arrived. 

"Ok guys I decided to invite two people that were part of the team and they couldn't miss this. Come in guys" then Derek with his family and Hotch with Jack walked in and Penelope had tears in her eyes as she walked to them hugging Jack, Savannah, little Hank, Hotch and lastly Derek. 

"Baby girl how I missed you" he said hugging her tight "I'm happy you finally find what make you truly happy" he smiled at her.

"My chocolate thunder always surprising me" she laughed with tears "now stop with the tears and let's get this party started"

Then the DJ put some music and they dance and sing. They even danced and sang Heroes by David Bowie. 

After the song was ending Luke and Penelope walked to drink some water and Max called JJ, Tara and Emily "hey I was wondering, is just me or those two like each other?" She pointed at them.

"It's not just you" said the three at the same time.

"What? About Garvez? Is it how you called Tara?" The woman nodded to Matt "we all made a bet, about when he will ask her to go on a date" 

"Really?" Looking at Spencer. 

"I bet it will take them three months in November"

"I bet in six months" comment JJ "but I think already lost, because look at them" they all turned. Emily could read his lips asking her out.

"Yeah I think Reid won this time" they all got out their money and handed it to him.

"What's up guys?" Asked David.

"Luke asked Penelope to go on a date"

"Garvez is endgame?" Asked Krystall and all nodded "who had the closed bet?" They all pointed to Spencer "not fair, the math boy always win" she said as she and Dave handed him money.

Then the other two walked over to them and looked their smirks "oh guys... you didn't, did you?" Asked Luke raised an eyebrow "who won?" Spencer raised his hand "you are evil" he laughed and looked at them. 

"What...?" Penelope was blushing when she realized what was happening. She took the girls apart to tell them the details, including Krystall, Kristy and Max.

"I'm glad you decided to do it bro" said Matt.

"Yeah... I know the team and the FBI has a policy of not dating but some agents broke it but I don't know, I didn't want it to be awkward for her or even myself"

"I understand that. I would be awkward being in love with a coworker" commented Spencer "but now you can have dates without worrying about protocols and she will understand your job"

"Right, Lisa never fully understood this" 

Later that night Emily took the stage "Penelope reminds all of us that change is good... painful, but good. And as much pain as Lynda Barnes caused all of us, she inspired me to change. So I'm cutting all my hair off. Get ready" they all laughed at that as she smiled.

Then it was JJ's turn to speak "So, um, I've grown up with Penelope, not as kids, but as adults" she laughed looking at her "and she has become my sister..." all of them looked at Penelope "there for me wherever I've found myself. Once she said that I was the glue that kept this team together. But we all know that that was really you" they both lifted their cups holding tears.

And last but not least Penelope took the stage "so we're at the beginning of the end. And this time next week, we're not gonna be together like we have been for as long as I can remember" she sighed and continued "I need you each to know that you hold a really special place in my heart. And... I wanna freeze right now. I wanna soak this in" she looked around looking at each one of them, her friends, her family "there, I did. Thank you for letting me be a part of this for so long" all of the presents had tears "and thank you for remembering me that there is an infinite amount of heroism and kindness in the world, no matter how bleak it seems. My favorite band says the love you take is equal to the love you make. So instead of a toast, I want to make a promise, can we please promise that no matter where we go after this that we keep this feeling in our hearts? Cheers"

"Salut!" Said all of them and drink their champagne and, in Spencer's case, water.

It was the perfect closure of the night. A night of celebration and a night of farewells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it and we will read sooner. Max and Spencer have a wedding to plan and later having a baby, because we all want to see Spencer been a father.
> 
> I will try to also add some double date with Maxcer and Garvez. I will need to think about it but I think it could be fun.


	21. Changes are good x Planning a wedding.

The next day Penelope surprised them by leaving before the week ended, she left them somethings, like a plant and her octopus cup.

Then they had a case and had to leave her getting her last things out of the office. Meanwhile in the new jet the team still has some tears as they fly to their destination.

"God... I already miss her" said JJ with the file in her hands.

"I know it's hard but we have to keep working. When we finish this case, we will pick a new TA for the team"

They nodded and Emily explained the case to them. It was in Atlanta and the case was a woman who seduced and killed men with poison. They saved the last victim.

When they arrived to DC. Spencer headed back to his apartment, Max decided to move back to hers after it was officially safe for him been alone, of course he would miss having her there. Especially after a case.

When he arrived he texted her to let her know he was back and safe at his apartment then he changed and laid in bed. Falling asleep almost every. 

He was better but still thinking to much made him tired, he hoped this could end soon so he could work as usual.

The next day he left early to the BAU. The team was heading into the round table room when he arrived. 

"Hey JJ, what's up? Is it a case?" 

"No Emily just want to talk with us" he nodded and walked in.

"Ok guys, since Penelope left, hundreds of aspirants sent there CV's to our office, they want to be part of one of the best teams in the bureau so... I brought you here to help me find the candidates for the final consideration. Each chair has some CVs, you will reach each one and consider who is a worthy person to be the substitute of Penelope'

Each team member signed "Emily, this will be hard, Penelope was one in a million and we won't find someone like her"

"I know but we aren't looking for a second Penelope, we we're looking for someone worthy of our team. She helped me yesterday to decant some, here are her picks for our consideration. Some aren't FBI agents, but are or were part of the government" they nodded "its hard but... while we don't have a case, this is our priority" 

They all sat around the table. Their normal seat when they have a case. JJ next to Spencer, Matt and Luke next to each other and David and Emily also next to the other.

The team read each CV they had in front of them. Emily ordered food for them since this took them all morning and part of the afternoon. 

But at last, each member has someone who may fill their expectations. Spencer finished first, even with his brain power diminished to seventy-five percentage, so Emily asked him to bring coffee for them.

He went to the coffee machine and brought coffee to each member of the team, and green tea for him.

When everyone was ready they took turns to talk about their selection and why they thought that person could be perfect for the team.

Luke picked a woman who was part of his former division, she was a tough woman who can track down prisoners who had escaped. She had experience working under pressure and he thought she would be perfect. 

Matt picked a guy who was part of the cyber crime division, he was able to block some leaks from Snowden and keep some major secret down.

JJ picked another guy who worked for Homeland Security, he worked for president Obama and now Trump in some secret missions in Afghanistan and North Korea.

Tara picked a woman who hacked the NASA at the age of ten and was know working for them.

Dave picked a man who was part of the new international team, he was an expert hacker and could find a needle in a haystack.

Lastly Spencer picked a woman who was part of the sexual crime division, she was taking the FBI profiling course and she had found really bad rapists through out her years in there.

Emily sighed "ok now we have to pick one out of them and all sounded good. But I will show Penelope what you picked and we will decide because she promised to help thru out this process" all the team members nodded "I think its time to go, we don't have a new case today so see you tomorrow" they stood up and walked to the door except for Spencer. 

"Emily, I'm still worry about this change, I mean, I know Penelope was never happy with what she had to do but I don't know if we will work well with any of these people"

"I understand Spence, I'm not happy with this but changes are good and if we have to deal with them, then we will with a smile ok?" He nodded "good, now go to your apartment, relax and spend time with Max" she smiled "oh and you two have a wedding to plan"

He smiled blushing a little "yeah we thought about some things but we still need to plan some others"

"Good... but first you need a date" she smiled "goodnight Spencer"

"Goodnight Emily" he waved and left the office walking to the elevator. 

He texted Max to go to his apartment, he ordered some food for dinner and when he arrived she was also arriving.

"Hello there handsome" she said walking to his car "how are you feeling?" She asked after a quick kiss.

"Hey, I'm feeling alright" he smiled and held her hand to walk in and went to his apartment "we had to read some CVs to find Garcia's substitute" he sighed and she squeezed his hand.

"I know it's hard because she is your friend but she is doing something less stressful and gory so she is happy" she said as they reached his apartment "and I'm sure the team will find the perfect person for that job, ok?"

Spencer smiled "ok" he kissed her head softly as they walked in "how was your day?"

"Great, today my students painted some flowers for the principal's birthday" they sat on the couch waiting for their food.

"Sounds like fun"

"You always seem to enjoy my classes, since we met"

He laughed "it just I think it's awesome what kids can do and how honest they are. Also since we met you strike me as a good teacher" she blushed and kissed him.

Then their food arrived and he walked to receive it. Then he walked back to her and handed her a box of Chinese rice and he got one for him.

Then they ate and talked about some plans for their wedding, they decided to ask Morgan and JJ to let Hank and Michael to be ringbearers and asked Matt so his daughters would be the flower girls

"I will call Derek tomorrow, also I want him as my best man and all my male coworkers will be the groomsmen" he said after finished his food "who will be your maid of honor and bridesmaids?"

"I want Michelle as maid of honor and the bridesmaids will be my sister Eloise and some friends from work" he nodded and held her hand.

"Do you want a priest or civil officer?"

She rubbed his hand with her thumb "well I'm not a very religious woman but them remember my mother's wish to get married in the church as my sister Michelle and I bet she would want it for Eloise"

"I understand, and I'm not a very religious man either and neither is my mom" he looked at her "but I will do whatever you want"

"I will sleep on it and I will let you know" he nodded "now I know exactly what song we will do for our first dance" she smirked "do you remember that song we dance at Christmas eve?" He nodded "well that one, because that was our first time together and we said our I love you's" he smiled. 

"Sounds perfect and as part of our vows I would like us to said meaningful poems to each other"

"I love it" she smiled then laid on his shoulder "I will check some of my dad's poem books because I lend my book to a friend and she left with it" she sighed. 

"Do you want to stay tonight?" He asked looking at her. She just kissed him as her answer "also we still have to set a date for our wedding"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's all for today. I hope you all liked. I'm trying to decide who will be the substitute to Penelope.
> 
> Who would you pick? Let me know who gave you good vibes. I like one but I will let you know in the next chapter. 
> 
> I already picked the song and the poems but Im6 also wondering, do you think they will pick a priest or an civil officer? Let your comments below. Read you later.


	22. The Newbie and the note

"Ok Garcia... we reduced the CV to 6" she said to their former TA.

"Ok let's see who we have here" she pick up each CV and check them, after a quick look she said "damn... good choices"

"Yeah I wish this could be easier but we have to reduce this to one"

"I know but we have all night" Emily nodded.

"Yes, I already have a sleeping bag here so... no problem, I will order food and a jar of coffee"

"Ok" Garcia got out her laptop and started to work. She has to check six people and no time to waist.

Emily helped her with some information in there CVs. After hours of research and a jar of coffee later, they found the person.

"I guess this one will be perfect for the team"

"I hope so" said Emily looking down at the CV they picked "I will make the call for the trial period"

"Ok, can I talk to team to let them know a few things?"

"Sure, they will be here in an hour, get some rest and I will come to let you know when they arrive"

"Ok thank you Emily"

"No I'm the one who should be thankful. You helped me reduce six people to one" the blonde woman smiled and the black haired responded with a smile too.

Meanwhile Max was making some grilled sandwiches for her and Spencer while he finished to get dressed.

She looked at him when he walked in the kitchen "I'm making us breakfast and I was waiting for you to make the coffee, only you know how that machine works" he laughed. 

"It's old but good. I bought it when I moved here from Vegas, in an antique store"

"Why I'm not surprised" she teased him and he rolled his eyes but laughed "after work I will go with Michelle to look for my wedding dress and the bridesmaids' and maybe design our wedding invitations. I have some ideas for them, but I need..."

"A date I know, but I don't know yet, at first I thought about March 19 because we met on October 19 but it's Thursday and we both have work and will be too complicated so..." she smiled because one, he remembers the day they met and two, because his rambling. 

"What other day is special to you Spencer?"

"Well... um... oh right 3.14" she raised her eyebrow "I mean... March 14 is Pi day, you know 3.14" she nodded looking at him "it's a cool day to celebrate our wedding because it's a math day, and you asked what day is important to me so... yeah..."

She laughed gently and nodded "ok Pi day will be" she patted his chest "it's so cute watching you explaining this so excited" he smiled and hugged her.

They went back to make coffee. She got out the sandwiches out of the grill into a plate the handed him two cups for the coffee.

They ate their breakfast and talked about Sammy learning magic and how excited he was when the magic penny trick worked for the first time. 

"He was so excited that he ran around my dad's house and almost broke my mom's favorite flower pot" Spencer laughed "and he did it without hitting a man with it" she smirked. 

"Oh come on... you will keep reminding me that?" He faked a hurtful face.

"Yes because it was both funny and cute. That was one of the things that made me accept your company while waiting for Michelle to picked up Sam"

"You know when I told my therapist about it later that week, she was both surprised and pleased at that" she looked at him "she said "see? You can be spontaneous and talk to someone out of your work" and I'm happy she gave me that "homework"" he did air quotations marks at that word making Max laughed when she remembered she said it to him.

"Well I'm happy to be part of your homework" she held his hand "I was watching your closet when I was looking for my clothes and saw the sweater"

"Oh yeah I haven't used it since that day" 

"You should, it looks pretty cool on you" she smirked then checks her watch "we should go, I have a class in thirty minutes and you have to be at the office soon"

"Yeah you are right" he stood up and got his plate and cup then hers and he headed to the kitchen "I will wash this quickly"

"Ok" she went to his bedroom to pick up her dirty clothes and put them in a bag then walked out to get her purse. She waited for him to finished and then he got his messenger bag.

"Ready?" She nodded and he opened the door, they walked out the apartment and headed to their cars. 

"See you tonight if you don't have a case?" She asked looking at him.

"Sure, I will text you if I can't" he leaned in and kissed her softly then she left to her car and he looked until she left then he got in his car and headed to the FBI. 

Some minutes later he was in the bullpen and there were JJ and Luke talking. 

"Hey Spence, Luke is telling me his plans for him and Penelope's date"

"Oh really? That's amazing. Where are you going to take her?"

"Well I know a Cuban restaurant where they have the best Ropa vieja which it's shredded flank steak or other meat in a rich sauce. I know maybe she will prefer something vegetarian but they have a vegan version of that dish"

"Good" said JJ as Tara joined the conversation. 

"And that place has a nice dance floor so maybe we can dance" he smiled at the thought.

"Sounds fun, she will love it and with some mojitos, she won't stop" commented JJ laughing. 

"Oh boy, Garcia and drinks will be a bomb" she laughed remembering their last party, or maybe the videos of it because she was too drunk to remember anything "by the way Doctor Reid. When will you and Max tie the knot?" Asked the other doctor of the team.

"We just picked the day today so the invitations will come soon. She will designed them"

"Good because we have a bachelorette party" JJ smirked. 

"Yeah baby... party!" Said Tara dancing alone making Luke, JJ and Matt who was arriving laughed. 

"Looks like the party started without me" said the man.

"Yeah it does" said laughing Luke. 

They continued talking until they saw a woman dressed in a black woman suit, high heels and brown hair walking in Emily's office. 

"OMG... is she the new TA of the team?" Asked JJ.

"It looks like" said Matt.

"She looks like Ashley, my former coworker at the Fugitive Task Force Unit. She is badass and you will love her"

"Looks like we will have a new TA" commented Rossi as he walked in.

"Yeah, it's weird but we have to get use to that" commented JJ.

"It will be hard to change" said Spencer "fifteen years with the same TA is something you won't move on easily"

"You will get use to her quickly, she is really cool headed"

"Our unit is harder and I'm not trying to say your former unit wasn't, but we have to see horrible things"

"Tracking fugitives isn't easy. There are lots of people who gave them fake identities that are pretty good" 

Before anyone else say something Penelope walked out the office and made them a sign to follow her in the conference room.

They did in shock. When they all walked in she turned to them "hey guys" she hugged each one then said "have a seat. Sorry I didn't have time to make tea" they laughed "anyway... I stayed all night reading your choices, all of them pretty good. The ones that stood up the most were Luke, our silver fox, and Spencer's choices. Emily and I checked their records, checked every case and there were almost a tie between Dave and Luke's, but we picked Luke's because she has an amazing record, she has something I don't... stomach for carry a gun and to look dead bodies without wanting to throw up" they all look at her "so please understand this isn't an easy job, be patient and threat her good, ok?"

They all nodded "we will and you know this team, when you prove your abilities to us, the respect will follow it" said JJ.

"Yes and don't be mean like I was with the newbies..."

"Is it an apology?" Commented Luke 

"Oh shut up newbie... not because you invited me to go on a date I will be nice with you" the whole team laughed "ok my furry friends I love you and I hope you threat Ashley well ok?" They nodded and Penelope left.

Emily and Ashley walked in "ok team I have two announcements first we have a case second we have a new TA. She is Ashley Dawson, she used to be part of the Task Force of the FBI" everyone looked at her.

She had white skin, hazel eyes and she was wearing a white shirt, skirt and a jacket.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm the one who got the job, this is an outstanding opportunity and an amazing team, I just hope we could work great together" all the team smiled at her.

"Ok, let's talk about the case" said Emily looking as Ashley handled everyone a file.

"The police of Denver found Felicity Hansel, Sophie Smith and Veronica Stone dead in different parts of the city" Ashley had some troubles using the control of the TV until she understood who it worked "as you can see they were half naked with knife wounds on there chest"

"The forensic evidence shows sexual assault before the death" said Spencer reading the file.

"And the use of drugs, maybe the unsub is weak and can't control them" said Luke. 

"The cause of death is a stab in the heart" said David "but look... Veronica has a head injury but the cause of death remains the same. Maybe she resisted the drugs and he has to hit her to get back the control over his victim"

"This three women were found with two days of difference so this man could escalate. Dawson looks the autopsy to see the drugs that were used" she nodded "to the rest... wheels up in twenty" all the team nodded and stood up with their files.

Luke walked to his former coworker "hey Miss D" said him smiling.

"Hey stranger" she smiled and hugged him "I heard about Phill" she said looking at him "I'm sorry, but I'm glad you could catch the son of b...."

"Hey language Miss D" she laughed "thank you and this team is amazing, you will see them do their job in automatic. We will call you and ask you to find things as fast as you can" she nodded.

"I know, I investigated the team" he looked surprised "what? I have to know were I stand" she smirked "now go you have to go to your fancy jet" he laughed and left.

Then she walked to her new office. It looked bored, FBI standard so she will have to put her own twist later. Today is her first job so she will not have much time. She turned the computer on and all the monitors turned on. Garcia's program was still there, she looked this linux interface on internet and downloaded to her computer, the user who uploaded it was BabyGirl69 so now she found out it was Garcia.

She laughed and searched what agent Prentiss asked for. Some minutes later when she calculated they were on their way to Denver, she made the call.

"Ok guys first of all the police found another body. Jennifer Anderson, 21 and she was a student"

"Ok so according to this files, the other three victims were also low risk victims. Felicity Hansel was an accountant, Sophie Smith and Veronica Stone were studying medicine and now Miss Anderson also a student" said Matt.

"Yeah nothing in common because, the second and third victims studied the same career, one was in a university and the other was part of another" said Dawson looking at them.

"Nothing in common..." said JJ "except their cause of death and the violation"

"Did you found the drugs this unsub used?" Asked Dave.

"Yes, sir. The autopsy found Lorazepam in the three victims" she said reading what she found.

"That drug is used to anxiety problems but also if you administered it via intravenous can cause low blood pressure and shallow breathing" said Spencer "can you find places where you can get it?" He looked at the screen. 

She nodded "ok on my way. I will call you when I found something" the video call ended.

"Ok JJ and Matt will talk to parents of the victims, Dave and Spencer will go to the forensic examiner and Tara and Luke will go to the last scene. I will go to the police station"

Spencer texted Max they cannot see that night due to a case, she answered with 'ok be save, don't do something stupid, am I clear?' He smiled and write back 'yes ma'am' then looked at the files.

When they arrived each team went to their assigned place.

Spencer and Dave walked in the forensic lab "good afternoon Dr. Yeng, I'm SSA David Rossi and this is Dr. Spencer Reid"

"Good afternoon agents, this is the most recent victim, Jennifer Anderson. The victim has a knife wound on the chest, I checked this woman looking for semen but the man who did this used a preservative so no DNA and I'm running drug test but I'm sure she was sedated"

"Why so sure?" Asked David.

"Because of this..." said Spencer pointing at the mark on her arm "a needle mark, the unsub injected the drugs in her, when she was sedated he raped her and then killed her"

"That means he may have a private place to do all this, what I don't understand is... why does he rape them and use a knife to kill them?"

"Yeah normally killing with a knife is more personal and could imply a rape too but this guy rape and kill in a personal way"

"I think he can't use other weapons, maybe using a gun could be too loud and other methods could be harder to perform in a close space" said Spencer. 

"Maybe he is doing this in an office, maybe he is even a man with medical expertise"

Meanwhile Tara and Luke check the scene where the victim was found "it's obviously a place to drop the body, no blood no signs of fight. He just dropped her here" comment Luke.

"Yes and it's not a crowded place so the unsub knew no one will find him" said Tara looking around "it's he's from here and knows the area"

Luke started to look around and saw some traffic cameras "we may be have a witness" Tara looked at him then the cameras. The man got out his phone and dial.

"Hey Alvez what's up?" Asked Ashley. 

"Hey Miss D, can you check some traffic cameras where I am?"

"Yeah give me a sec" she typed his coordinates then hack the cameras "ok I got it"

"Perfect Dawson, now check the video to see if you can find our guy dropping the victim"

"Okidoki" she said and looked the videos since yesterday "there is something, I'm sending it to you" she hit send.

"We got it"

"As you can see he knew about the cameras so we can see his face but let me zoom in, can you see it?"

"Oh the jacket has a logo, can you find information about it?"

"Yes I can mister"

"Ok perfect, call me when you have something"

"Ok Alvez, bye" they hung out.

"She is good right?" 

"Yes she is, let's see what she found" said Tara looking at the logo on the man's jacket. 

The team reunited in the police office.

Spencer and David explained what the forensic examiner said about the victims and Luke explained everything they found and then showed then what Dawson found.

"Wait... I saw that... when I came here to a lecture when I was reinstated. It's the psychiatrists unit of the university. But this one looks older" said Spencer. 

"This men could be a psychiatrist?" Said Tara.

"He isn't an angel of mercy because he doesn't kill people who are suffering, and they don't use to rape their victims" said Rossi.

"This is a psychopath and apparently a psychiatrist..." said Spencer.

JJ and Matt talk to the parents of each victims, asked who could do this to them, if someone hated them and other questions about her.

Then they both walked out of the room and headed to the group.

"Hey guys what did you find out?" They all tell them what they found then JJ said "oh... we have to ask those parents if there daughters and the husband of Felicity were watching a psychiatrist"

"That will need to wait. We have a report of a missing person, her name is Dana Tate, Spence and JJ go check the crime scene"

Luke got a call from Ashley "hey Ash what's up?"

"I found what you asked me" 

"Ok you are on speaker" 

"Alright, Luke asked me to search for this logo, and it is given to psychiatrists who when to an annual conference in Denver. The conference was on November 8, 9 and 10. They gave this one to all the assistants"

"Reid was right, it's the psychiatrists' logo"

"Yeah and I was looking for the list of doctors who were there but it's a long one"

"Ok we need to find someone who work in this area" commented Matt

"Good that reduce the list but I still have so many"

"Can you find who bought Lorazepam?"

"Ok that helped a lot, we only have ten"

"And can you access the list of patients?"

"No that's confidential"

They sighs then Luke said "we have ten men who bought Lorazepam but can't know who was threatening our victims"

"What if we ask the victims' families"

"Ok but first we need to give the profile" said Emily

When JJ and Spencer arrived, the BAU called the police to give the profile. 

"We are looking for a man, in his forties or fifties. Controlled and methodical" started Emily. 

"He is a psychiatrist who is using his accest to drugs to sedated his victims, rape them and them kill them" continued Rossi.

"This unsub is used a preservative in each rape which means he knew we could find him if he doesn't cover his tracks" said Luke "also we know he is from this area because he dropped the bodies in places with low traffic and knows where are the cameras"

"And we believe he killed those women in an office, his office, we have to watch carefully the areas where he left his victims" said Spencer "there's a similar case that we heard about from Latin America, specific from Venezuela, the Doctor Edmundo Chirinos who had thousand of photos of women he raped and killed, they were his parents"

"So this man use his patients as sexual release?" A police officer asked.

"Yes, he's a normal sexual predator but he has easy to his victims" Spencer answered "keep your eyes open"

Then all of them walked back to their office. Ashley could not access to the files of the doctors and she knew there was a missing woman and maybe the unsub had her.

She was desperate because the final key was right there but could not reach it. Then she kicked the table and a pink piece of paper fell to the floor she picked it up, unfolded it and reads it"

This job could be stressful but as David Bowie once said  
We can be heroes, just for one day  
Today is yours to be one.  
PG.

Ashley smiles and she made some calls, asked some favors and even threatened to show some compromised pictures to the wife of certain politician and she got full access to the files. 

She checked the files and looked for the victims' name. When she had the information she called Emily. 

"Hey Agent Prentiss... I got access to the records"

"How...?" 

"Long story, maybe later"

"Ok you are on speaker Dawson"

"Perfect, guys I found our nasty psychiatrist. His name is Daniel Freys 46, he had been the doctor of all our victims. And he had been accused of sexual assault in the past"

"That's explained why he used a preservative everytime he abused a woman" commented Spencer. 

"Do you have his address?"

"Yes I just send it to your tables, go catch him" she hung up and the drove to his office. 

They found the kidnapped girl who was about to get raped. Luke handcuffed him and took him away. That man has hundreds of pictures of women who were found dead but the police never connected them because mostly were homeless and prostitutes.

"So he was working in several rehab centers and he killed and raped and killed them once in a while so they never thought it was him" said Luke to Ashley on the phone.

"Ugh... creep.. glad you catched him"

"Thanks to you Ash. You did it great"

"Thank you Luke, for trusting me"

"You are welcome, see you"

The plane arrived to DC and all of them went to have dinner together "but the new pay the drinks" said Luke laughing and the whole team laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all for today, I hope you liked this. It was a case with our new member.


	23. We have a hostage situation part 1

Max decided to visit Spencer the next morning to show him the design of their invitations for the wedding. 

She knocked the door of his apartment, he walked to the door with his tie undoes and opened the door "hey handsome" she walked in and kissed him.

"Hey Max, how did you sleep?" he asked tying his tie.

"Good but missing you" she pouted and helped him with the tie "when did you arrive home?"

"We arrived to DC at 11:30 and then the new girl, our technical analysis invited us to eat something so I returned home at almost 1 am"

"Is she nice?" He nodded "good and I'm happy you all are getting along with this new person" he smiled.

"Yeah, we still miss Garcia but Ashley Dawson is pretty cool too" Max smiled.

"Good, I came here to show you the designs I made with my friend" she unlocked her phone and showed him the invitation's design. It was a white card with golden designs on it, super over the top for his taste "so what do you think?" She asked excited as he used his fingers to zoomed in the picture, she did not need a profiling course to know he was not pleased with it "you don't like it, do you?"

"I...it's not that... I think they look cool..."

"But...?"

"But... don't you think it's too much?" He looked at her "why golden? And shiny?"

"Actually I don't think so" she said crossing her arms "Spencer, getting married just happens once in a life time" she continued and added "and no... Rossi and his 3 wives don't count"

"Max... I know it's something important to you and you want it to be super especial but I'm not a fan of big events and as I told you my personal life is boring, unlike my professional one"

"That's why I want it to put something extravagant in your life"

When he was about to talk his phone rang. He thanked whoever was up there for saving him "hello?"

"Hey Spencer? It's Ashley, we need you here. There's a case here in DC"

"Ok, Ashley, I will be there soon. See you" then he hung up.

"Work?" He nodded "you are the luckiest man in the world..."

"What about we talk about this tonight? The case will be here in DC so I will be able to come home after that" he held her hand "you can order your favorite food and we can even have wine"

She sighed "you are lucky you are adorable. Go get your bag and we can leave. Today we will have the visit of the president at the school. My kids made some draws of him" he laughed softly as he got his jacket and messenger bag.

"I would love to see them" he smiled and held her hand and then they walked out of the apartment and walked outside.

"I will get some to show you tonight" they reached her car "well see you tonight" she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him "I love you and I understand that you don't like it but we have to find something that we both like" he nodded.

"We can keep talking about this tonight" she nodded and left to her car "I love you too" he said looking as she got in her car, she waved and drove away.

Then he left to the office. When he arrived they were already at the conference room, waiting for him "ok we are all here. Thanks for coming" said Ashley "ok guys I called you because the NSA sent us a terrorism alert, they thing someone is after President Trump"

"What made them think it?" Asked Rossi.

"Because they found this..." Dawson showed then a box with a bomb in it "this bomb was found in an school close to the White House. President Trump was heading there to an event he will have there" Spencer felt a cold feeling while she explained this "they don't know why they are attacking the president so they called us. In an hour the NSA and even the CIA will come here"

"And... d...do we know the school they may be targeting?" Asked Spencer. 

"We only know the schools the president was going to visit but we don't know if they were already in one of them" Spencer gulped and JJ noticed that.

"Spence... are you ok?"

"Max... Max said they will have the president at her school today..." the whole team covered their mouths.

"Who is Max?" Asked Ashley confused. 

"She's Spencer's fiancee, she's an art teacher"

"Oh my..." said her then looked at Prentiss. 

"Ok guys, we have to move quickly. Ashley call each school on the list. Tell them they need to evaluate because we think there's a gas leak" Ashley looked uncomfortable with the lie but she knew she had to lie so they did not panic "Spencer you can't call her" he was nearly in tears "you know if there's a bomb, a cellphone call could activate it" he nodded and rubbed his face desperate "JJ and Tara please go with these schools" she handed them a piece of paper "you can go with a SWAT team" they nodded "Matt and Luke will go with the rest also with a SWAT team" the two men nodded "Dave, Spence and I will stay here working on a profile" 

All of them leave to do what they were asked to.

"Emily I'm not sure if my brain will work at all in this situation"

"Spencer I thrust in you and so does she" he had tears.

"Maeve also did and she is..."

"Nothing will happen to Max, ok?" She held his hands "we will find those men" he nodded and hugged her "everything is going to be fine" she rubbed his back. 

Meanwhile in Max school. The power went down and the kids screamed "hey kids... Calm down, I will ask principal Coleman to call our janitor and fix this" she said and to her students, then she walked to the door and she could heard gunshots "Oh my..." she whispered and looked at the kids panicked "calm down and get behind my desk, now!" All the kids did it and she ran to hide with them.

She had to remain calm for her students. She was praying for Spencer to find her before these man arrived.

Back at the FBI. Dawson walked to Prentiss office as quick as possible. Spencer followed her with his eyes "hey kid... focus on the profile" 

"I can't... the only thing in my mind is Maeve and Diane, on that rooftop"

"I understand but we still have a chance to find this men" said Rossi "concentrate so we can find her soon" Spencer nodded and returned to the geographical profile. 

In Prentiss office

"Boss... bad news"

"What's up Dawson?"

"Well... every school had been alerted and they called the parents and they are empty now... the problem is... one of the schools isn't answering"

"Max's workplace right" she nodded "Gosh... well that help us because we know where they are. Ashley I will need you in the field. We will go to that school and close the perimeter, put a tent and try to make contact with them"

She nodded "ok, should I tell Reid and Rossi?"

"No I will talk with them"

"Ok I will get ready my equipment"

Emily sighed and called her team to let them know what they found there and they also informed what they found in the field. JJ and Tara captured a man hiding in the locker rooms and they are heading to their office.

Matt and Luke went to Max's school and set the perimeter.

Back to the school Max listened some footsteps outside the classroom. 

"Number three... look inside" said a man outside the door.

"Ok boss" said the other a little nervous.

"Don't be nervous bro... you decided to do this with us, now you have to follow my orders" the man had a thick accent, she thought he sounded Russian or something like that the other sounded like a latino man. 

"O...ok" he walked in and the children jumped and Max has to put a finger on her lips to keep them quiet but she was not lucky enough to stop a little girl to gasped and that called the men attention. 

"Look like we found more kids here" said the Russian man "oh and look their pretty teacher protecting them" the man smirked "come on let's take a walk"

Back at the BAU. Ashley handed Emily a paper.

"This is Ivan Krasinski, Russian citizen, he got in the country a week ago. He belongs to a group called Up.... I can't pronounce this"

"Upolnomochennyye kommunisty" Emily said in Russian "meaning Empowered Communist. When I was in the Interpol this group caused lots of troubles in some countries. Like Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and Turkey. They are trying to show that the capitalism is bad so they caused troubles and blame the opposition of those countries"

"Oh... I understand" she looked at her boss "so they are trying to do the same against our government"

"Yes and I think it's because the restriction President Trump put on Huawei and China" Ashley nodded "I will interrogate him to confirm this"

Emily walked in and interrogated him. The man's English was not good so she communicated with him in Russian. The man was surprised at first but then he confirmed her theory.

This was a plan to damage their president image, but everything got wrong when the new members made a mistake and the American government found out.

When she asked him to write the names of his team he asked for a lawyer.

Emily sighed and walked out "he knows something" said Spencer who walked in while she was interrogating "I can tell by his body language"

"I know but we can't interrogate him again without a bilingual lawyer"

"I know..." he undid his tie "what can we do? The clock is ticking and we are in a dead end"

"Don't worry I will work some digital magic to find them" Ashley commented "I will work hard to find them" the two agents nodded.

"Go on Dawson" the TA walked outside.

Meanwhile in the school Max and her students were taken to the gym where there were other teachers, some of them with bruises and cuts on her eyebrows.

Happily the kids were unharmed, they were scared but fine. Max looked at them. They were using mask so she only could see their eyes. 

"Ok we will be for a while so be quiet and maybe we will let you go" said the Russian man. Then one of the other approached him and whispered something "ugh... Iva... number ten is an idiot!" Screamed him "if he opened his big mouth I will kill him!"

So the FBI found one of their members, so maybe they will found them there.

Emily with Spencer, David and Ashley drove to the school with JJ and Tara.

They already set the perimeter and got their equipment ready for any communication.

"Agent Prentiss, hello I'm Andrew Flanagan, I work with the NSI and we found Mr. Stanley Dyatlov, he is a protective witness against some cases of corruption in Ukraine government and his son studied here"

"Oh... that's why they attacked this school" she said looking at him "we thought this was a direct attack to the president but after we found out that, they came here to attack this school but how they found you?"

"We think one of their members, a hacker called Felix Rodriguez found a way to look into our data bases and found Mr. Dyatlov" said agent Flanagan "we can't find him but he most be here in DC" 

"Ok I will ask my TA to find this man meanwhile we have a hostage situation in there" she looked a them "so we need your collaboration in this investigation" both men nodded.

Meanwhile the men inside got a call from outside, the leader of the team answer the call "who's there?"

"Hello this is Agent Emily Prentiss from the BAU, a FBI department"

"Hello Agent Prentiss. You sounds familiar did we meet before?" The man asked.

"Maybe I was part of the Interpol and I faced your team"

"Oh yeah!... I remember you now... you killed one of my men"

"And you killed three of mine"

He laughed "oh yeah... I enjoyed that" the man said with satisfaction "I guess you called to negotiate, right?"

"Yes, those kids don't deserve this situation. You made a point and you found the son of a traitor, now leave those kids go"

"No, they are my protection, while I have them, your weak government can't touch me"

"But you have your target and we can't hurt you with him either"

"You may be right.... but I like more having a bunch of kids instead of one. Bye Emily" he hung up. 

"Damn it..." said Prentiss "his voice sounded familiar but can't remember his face" she rubbed her forehead "Ashley find men that are part of the most wanted list of the Interpol or any men from that group from 2012 to 2016 when I was chief of the London Office of the Interpol" she nodded "Matt, Luke look for any possible way to get in and surprised them" both men nodded "Tara, I need you to interrogate Mr. Dyatlov to know who could be looking for him" she nodded then she looked at Spencer. 

"Emily please give me something to do... or I will got crazy"

"Spence, help Ashley looking for connections" he nodded and walked to the the computer to sit to the new member "Dave come with me"

He does it and they walked in a trailer set for them "poor kid..." said Rossi "I don't know what we are going to do"

"Me neither, our only lead is the name of their organization and that one of their members made a mistake"

"And their leader doesn't want to negotiate with us"

"I hate this situation and it's worst when there's involved a friend" suddenly Emily got a message, when she checked it, that was a photo from the inside of the school, she smirked when she saw who sent it "Reid picked a tough woman... look at this" she showed him the picture.

"Well when your couple works for the FBI you need to be tough to support him or her" said Rossi. 

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will leave it here for now, the next chapter will be the conclusion of this case. What will happen? Throw some theories.


	24. We have a hostage situation part 2

Max took some pictures with her phone, trying to not be obvious about it. She decided to sent them to Prentiss.

Before she sent them, she added some information like adding a Russian on the man who was leading the operation and then a Spanish flag to let them know he must speak that language. 

She sent it and put her phone back in her pocket. She just prayed it help them a little.

Back with Spencer and Ashley they were looking every list of the Interpol looking for someone. 

"Hey Reid" he looked at her "I know how you feel, once my ex boyfriend got kidnapped and my unit saved him bit them... well he started to get nervous because of my job even though I'm not a field agent so I ended it up"

Spencer smiled softly "yeah this job is tough, especially for our loved ones" Reid saw a picture of a man and something clicked "this guy looks familiar. Who is he?"

"Nikolai..." she made a dramatic pause and said "...Krasinski! He is the big brother of Ivan, both are from Saint Petersburg and their parents were members of the KGB and they are part of this terrorist organization since 2017 causing troubles around the world" she read excited. 

"Excellent, we have the name of the man who spoke with Prentiss now we need the rest of his team. I will tell Emily and Rossi" he said "you keep looking Dawson" she nodded and he left.

He walked in the trailer "Emily, Dave..." he said and looked how they were focused on her phone "what's up?"

"Max" Emily looked at him "she sent us some pictures from inside" Spencer walked to them "apparently there are four members of this terrorist group. And she put a Russian flag on this man and a Spain flag on this other"

"I think that's mean this man is Russian and this other speaks Spanish" said Spencer looking at his supervisor's phone "Dawson and I found out who the leader of the team was. Nikolai Krasinski"

"Like the man we have in our office?" He nodded "we finally have some advantages today"

"Let me speak with him. Maybe with the new information I may get him to negotiate with me"

"Spencer..."

"Trust in me, Emily, you know I'm completely focused in the case. Yes my fiancee is in there but I'm a professional and I won't risk 132 life there because of one person"

"I know Spencer but first... we need something to negotiate. Ask Dawson to look all the people who work in this school" he nodded and walked out. 

Meanwhile Max was helping the kids to remain calm singing softly some of there favorite songs.

"Sir I'm worry, the FBI is so calm outside, shouldn't we negotiate with them?"

"You never watched those Americans films? The moment we accept a deal, the will fool us and them... prison... dead penalty"

"And what are we gonna do?" Asked the guy at the other end of the room "wait till they decide to kill us? I bet you watched Captain Phillips. They kill the pirates on a ship... moving... we aren't better dudes" he sounded American. So they have a Russian, a Latin kid and an American. There's only one guy who has not spoken yet. 

She informed this to Emily. Via WhatsApp, she put her phone back in her pocket, one of her coworkers noticed this and looked at her shocked and Max put a finger on her lips saying to her to stay quiet.

Her coworker nodded and looked as the men kept fighting about negotiate or not.

At the FBI camp outside the school Ashley found something important "Reid... come over" the young doctor walked to her "I found something important, Darcy Johnson is a teacher in that school, she has type 2 diabetes and if she does not have her insulin in time, she may die" 

"That's perfect for our negotiations" said Spencer, then he walked to Emily "Emily, Dawson found there's a teacher with diabetes in there"

"And inside we have an American citizen" Spencer lifted his eyebrow "Max heard him, and she informed me"

"Ok. Emily I think we have something to negotiate with them" 

"Yeah but we don't have anything they want" said Emily looking at Spencer. 

"We have Ivan, maybe we can use him" Prentiss made an unsure face "Maybe food? They had been there like an hour and thirty minutes"

"Let's see if this work" he looked at her and nodded "I know you want it to work somehow but use that logical brain we all love and want to work at it's full speed"

He sighed "I just... can't lose Max, I wouldn't forget myself if that happens again" he looked at her "let me talk to him, I will block my emotions" 

After some minutes of silence Emily nodded "ok Spence. But if I notice any indication of anger or frustration, I will give the order to hang out the call. Is that clear?" He nodded "ok good".

They walked out the trailer and Prentiss ordered to call the kidnappers again and she handed the phone to Spencer.

He decided to speak in Russian, he worked on his pronunciation and now was perfectly fluent in the language. He called him by his name and the man sounded surprised. 

Then Spencer explained there was a woman in there with diabetes and she will soon need her medication also he asked for any person who may be hurt. They know a teacher had some bruises thanks to Max but he never mentioned they already knew.

The man said yes and Spencer started to negotiate. He said they will send food and drinks for the kids, teachers and theirselves if they released the two teachers that needed medical treatment. 

"Ok Doctor Reid, we have a deal but only if you come here, unarmed" said him with his thick accent. 

Emily looked at Spencer "Deal... I will go in" then they hung out.

"Spence... why did you do that? I won't send you there unarmed, with four unsub alone"

"It's the only way we can get the critical hostage out of there" he said looking at her "I know you think I didn't use my logical brain but I did and that's the only way Emily"

"I will thrust in your decisions Spencer but if some go the wrong way, I will have the judgment of the NSA and the politicians"

"I understand" he nodded "and I won't let it happens" he turned to Ashley "did you find something else?"

"Yes the same day Nikolai Krasinski and his brother arrived, a flight from Colombia arrived, a man called Carlos Ramirez got in the country. He was accused to work with the FARC- EP as a drug dealer. Never used a gun and the authorities of Colombia forgave him for saying the authorities everything he knew about the narco traffic. That's why he walked in our country so easily" she said "and the Krasinski brothers and Mr. Ramirez had several chats with Andrew Davis, an American citizen who was anti capitalism and all the antis you can imagine"

"They met here to cause a riot in the nation and also kill an opponent in the inclusion of Crimea in the Russian territory" said Emily "killing two birds with one stone"

"Yeah but we need one more name, because according to Max picture, there's one more person in there" added Rossi.

"I know but I'm not sure how we will find him. Because they only test between them" said Ashley looking at her computer.

After that they made the call to ordered the food and water for the negotiation also ordered some ambulance to take care of the two patients. 

"What make you think everyone is safe in there?" Asked a man from the DCPD.

"Normally if there's not a murder, it's mean the men inside don't want to kill and we will have some good negotiations" explained Spencer "now what's bothering me is that they haven't said their demands" 

"Like?"

"Like 'we can 10 billion dollars without marks' or 'we want an airplane' they haven't asked for anything"

"What would that means?" 

"They don't have a backup plan and this was improvised, which turn this into a trap or it's just a fail"

"Let's hope it's the first one"

"Yeah..." that makes Spencer's brain works. He was happy his brain was a lot better from his nearly death experience and could think faster.

"I can hear you thinking kid... what's up?"

"This hostage situation isn't normal. They haven't kill someone or even shot, like when Will got in the bank and got shot"

"Don't remember that Spence" said JJ "I still have nightmares"

"They haven't set their demands or ask to make public statements about their cause" Spencer opens the website of this group "see this? They have an agenda and I can't see that in this situation, they are a political group that caused troubles around the world and now they haven't made it public?"

"You are right but what's their plan?" Said Rossi.

"I don't know..." said Spencer. His brain was working as fast as usual.

The team tried to make connections when the food arrived. And Spencer call Nikolai to let him know he will approach them with some people of his team to help him with the food. He was a little reluctant at first but then accepted. 

Inside Nikolai said "ok who will be a good human shield for me?" He looked around "um... what about pretty art teacher?" He points Max "come here you will be my protection if they want to shot me" 

Max stood up shaking and walked towards him then the man walked to the main door with another guy from his group.

When they reached the door she could see Spencer with JJ and a woman she did not know, maybe the new girl bringing each woman some boxes of pizza while he carried the bottles of water. 

She could tell he already saw her, she could read his eyes but his poker face remained still to not give information to her kidnapper.

"Well... well... well... Dr Reid bring two beautiful women with him" he laughed checking out both of them. Max felt disgusted "pretty art teacher, before he gets in, check if he doesn't carry a gun" Max did it shaking.

"He doesn't have any gun" Max said using her poker face too, the same that fouled Cat Adams.

"Good" then Nikolai said "since you most know my conrad's name... Ramirez check him just in case miss pretty art teacher didn't want to say the truth" the Latin boy did it.

"Nothing Nikolai" 

"Ok let's go so you check those women you wanted" Spencer nodded to JJ and Ashley and they handed a box to Max and the other to Ramirez then they walked inside the gym.

They put the food on the floor and Spencer checked the two women and with his eyes tried to find a way out or a way to hit them with hurting the children or the teachers.

"I will take them with me. This woman needs her medication and this other needs medical attention"

"Yeah she was very rebellious and Anderson got... violent" Spencer had to close his fist tight and count to ten so he did not punch him.

"Let's go" he looked at Max from the corner of his eyes and she looked back then he lifted the two women and take them out of the gym.

On his way to the door one of them said "so you are Max's boyfriend right?" He nodded "nice to meet you, we were asking for her to bring you here but she said 'no yet' and now a very unpleasant situation brought you here"

He laughed softly "yeah I think this is my way to meet her family and friends" he looked at them "maybe some other day I will come over" they reached the door and there were his coworkers waiting. 

JJ helped him with one of them and Ashley helped with the other.

He explained what he saw to them and Ashley said she will call for some drones. Maybe they could attack by surprise. 

They took the women to the ambulance to get help them went back to work. Spencer told the rest of the team what he saw.

"Why did he pick Max as his human shield?" Said Spencer getting a cup of coffee.

"Spence... relax they don't know your connection with her, so I doubt they did it on purpose. Maybe because she is pretty and they thought she might distract you. That man is misogynist and I bet he hates women so he got comfortable when you volunteered to be the negotiator"

"Sounds logical" she nodded and held his hand softly.

"We will catch them"

"Thank you JJ" she smiled "I really appreciate this" 

"You know I will be there for you Spence" he smiled and squeezed her hand "take a little break here, clear your mind and you can continue" he nodded.

"Ok, mom" he teased her and she laughed softly and hit him gently. 

Then she left him in the trailer, a DCPD brought him some pizza and water for lunch and then he walked out to meet the team.

"Do we have something new?"

"No, the forth man is still a mystery for us"

"And he haven't talk cause Max hasn't heard him to informe us" he nodded as Emily talked.

"There's something that keeps bugging me... they haven't give us their demands" he looked at them "that's always something we can expect from this kind of situations" they all nodded. Then Spencer started to drop facts about other hostages situations where they all asked from very important requests to absurd requests.

"You are right Spencer, but we are in an dead end" said Emily "our witness can't say anything because those men covered their faces so we can identify them. But then we found a conversation between them. This is so weird"

That's when something clicked in Spencer's head "where is Mr. Dyatlov?"

"He's with Agent Flanagan. Why?" 

"I want to ask him something" 

"Come with me" Emily could hear his brain working so she took him with the NSA agent "Agent Flanagan. This is Dr. Spencer Reid and he wants to talk with Mr. Dyatlov"

"Sure, we have a private room here" he lead them in and they sat down. 

"Ok Mr. Dyatlov I would like to know, what are you going to say in court?"

"Well I'm going to talk about corruption in Ukraine and I also provide information about the Crimea case. The government is making a deal with Russia to give them money in exchange for their silence"

"Ok and why are you attacking your government with this kind of scandal? The world supports Ukraine, right?"

"Yes but our president is corrupt"

"Ok I understand" then Spencer says something in Ukrainian and the man looked confused. 

Spencer read his expression and smiles a little and talked in Russian and Mr. Dyatlov got pale.

"You see this man isn't from Ukraine. He faked his identity. He is from Russia. The thing is, the Ukrainians won't be agree about Russia took part of their territory. Something they fought for after their independence from the Soviet Union, not even if they are opponents of the government"

"I...I..." the man was speechless. 

"You put the life of thousands of kids, 32 between teachers and administrator members... for what?"

"I... I was looking to get into the witnesses protection system. I wanted the United States to think I was an important target to Russia. I hired this guys to create a distraction and if the thing went wrong then 'fake kidnap' my son. They sent a manifesto attacking your president and I would end up being a victim of the Russian government"

"You used this kids to have protection?" He nodded and agent Flanagan signed "I'm sorry agent Prentiss and Dr. Reid... I will put this man under arrest"

"But first we need him to call the kidnappers and tell them to surrender" said Emily. Dyatlov nodded and got out his phone and contacted them. He spoke in Russian, Emily and Spencer noticed he was giving the order and then the agent cuffed Dyatlov and left.

Spencer and Emily sighed "good job Spence" she patted his back.

"Thank you Emily" he smiled. 

They walked out of the NSA tent and they could see how everyone walked out of the school the SWAT team got the hostage takers.

Spencer walked to one of the ambulances and saw Max helping some kids. He smiled and walked towards her.

"Hey" he said softly touching her back gently. She turned and hugged him he hugged her back "are you ok?"

She nodded "y...yes, I'm still a little shocked but good" she rubbed his cheek with some tears in her eyes.

He rubbed her cheeks "good, do you want to leave?" She nodded and hugged him tightly with her head on his chest "ok let's go"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now, I was a little stuck with this one but I read a lot about negotiations, also I had the plan to make Dyatlov the real unsub. So I had to look on internet if the Russian and the Ukrainian languages were different from each others.
> 
> And I found out they are. Like Spanish and Portuguese or even English and German. They came from the same language family but they added different words or even meanings of the same word. It was quite interesting but I'm rambling, sorry.
> 
> Thank you for reading. I think the next chapter should be their wedding, don't you agree?
> 
> This little plot came to me when I was in the kitchen and I hope I did it well.
> 
> We will read in the next one.


	25. I Now Pronounce You...

After the terrible situation there were in the principal sent an email to her teachers and the parents to take the rest of the week off.

And she also recommended a psychology to help them got over it. Spencer asked Emily to take a few days to stay with Max, his boss understood that and she accepted it.

That day he drove her to his apartment and they drank a tea and cuddled on his couch "I don't know if you prefer to stay in your apartment. I don't have a TV or something to distract you, just books"

She looked up at him and rubbed his cheek "Spence... I'm happy just to be with you" she just smiled "and I'm thankful to have you close to me" then kissed him.

"I love you and I just want you to feel comfortable"

"I love you too and I am comfortable" he nodded and hugged her tightly "so... um... do you want to talk about the invitation card?" 

She laughed "actually... yes" she faced him and when he was about to speak again, she pressed her finger on his lips "I thought about it after I left your apartment, and at first I was upset because I loved the design but then I realized... this is something for us. Not just mine" she held his hands "and my hero deserves to be part of the decisions too so. Maybe tomorrow we can go back to my friend's and asked her to pick a color we both like"

He smiled and nodded "sounds fair enough" they hugged each other.

"Also can we use these days to work on our wedding?"

"Sure, maybe we can even visit Krystall to see the garden and decide everything" she nodded.

"I like that idea" she laid on his chest "and let's not mention what happened, please?"

"Ok but it's good to talk about traumatic events so your mind doesn't feel overwhelmed by the negative emotions"

"There's my doctor... I understand what you mean and I just wish I had a strong mind like yours but I'm not"

"I was suffering out there, I managed to concentrate because I needed to save you and those kids, but thoughts of Maeve and what happened to her came immediately to my mind and Emily had to get me the boss speech to force me to focus" he looked at her "I don't have a strong mind. I just learned how to focus instead of breaking" she kissed him.

"I'm sorry. You are right baby" she has some tears and sighed "when I'm ready we can talk" he nodded and wiped her tears.

"Ok I will respect that. Now do you want to order food from your favorite restaurant and we can check some things for the wedding on your laptop?"

"Sure I would love to" she got out her phone and called to order her favorite dish and orders what he usually orders. She loved tacos and her favorite place was close from his apartment. 

Then she picked up her laptop and they started to pick up some decorations for the garden. She liked what Krystall used to decorate at Penelope's party so Max wanted something like that.

Spencer also picked some stuffs he liked, but he left her pick almost everything else. His goal was to distract and relax her. 

She was excited and by the time the food arrived she picked everything up. They ate checking rings designs.

"Do you have your poem for our vows?" She asked when they finished to eat and she helped him washing the dish

"Yes. I have a book of poems and I found it the next day we decided to do that" he smiled looking at her "and you?"

"Same" she looked back and smiled.

"Derek is planning the bachelor party" he sighed "I'm afraid of what he planned" she laughed "don't laugh! Derek loves to make me uncomfortable or tease me"

"Just like a big brother" she laughed more "I tease Eloise and Michelle a lot and they do the same. Like when Michelle almost marry us when we first met" she smiled "I was so embarrassed..."

"Yeah I could feel it in your voice. I didn't say anything to not make it worst" she splashed some water on him "hey!" He said and splashed her back "you love playing with water, huh?" 

And they have a little war splashing each other until the floor was wet and so were they.

"Damn... now I have to dry the floor" said him looks for the mop.

"Totally worth it" she laughed as she followed him. 

"Yeah I thought you would say that" he raised his eyebrow "go that a shower I got this covered" 

"You sure?" He nodded "ok boss" she laughed and left the kitchen walking to his bathroom.

When he finished cleaning the floor she was done with her shower and walked in the kitchen wearing one of his shirt.

"Ok go take a shower. I will finish this" he looked at her and nodded and left to the bathroom. 

She put the mop in it's place then walked to his bedroom where she was reading one of the books his mother gave him. 15th century literature was great.

When he walked into his room and he smiled at her, then he sat next to her "my mom used to read me those poems"

"Really? That's cute" she leaned on his chest and read one more poem then put the book on the nightstand and turned to hug Spencer "goodnight" she kissed him then fell asleep with her head on his chest.

The next morning the couple decided to go change the design of their invitation cards. They picked the white car with bronze flowers and lines also their names and the address.

Then they went to pick their rings. He picked a thick golden ring, she picked a thinner golden ring with three little diamonds on it and they decided to write their names and their wedding date on them. Those rings will be ready some days before the wedding. 

At the afternoon they drove to Rossi's house where Krystall was waiting for them. David was in a case so there will only be the three of them.

She invited them lunch and they talked about the wedding plans. They decided to say theirs 'I do' to a preacher.

Krystall offered the service of the waiters they had at Penelope's party and she insisted saying it was part of their present so she will not accept a no.

They left some hours later and drove to Max's dad house. They shared some more time there. Spencer told them to not mention yesterday's incident. And they did not.

She gave her sisters and dad's invitations and she asked Michelle if Sammy could give a speech at there wedding. They talked about their plans for the wedding and her father was so happy he had tears listening to Max.

"You know it was my dream to married her off" Spencer looked a Michelle remembering what she said that day at the park and Max was blushing "she is the most stubborn of them and I was worry she would never marry especially after Mike Davis"

"Dad..." she was looking at the ceiling.

"What? Spencer is part of the family and I want him to know I'm happy you two met" Spencer smiled.

"I'm also happy Max and I met. I was having to bad situations at the moment we talked and she helped me so" 

She kissed his cheek and her dad's cheek "I love you both" she smiled.

They changed the subject and after dinner they went back to his apartment.

After that the next few weeks was calmer. They went back to work and there usual routine. At first Max was nervous about returning to work but Spencer calmed her and promised her everything will be back to normal and that she can stay in his apartment until their wedding. 

The weekend before the wedding Derek took Spencer and all the men of the BAU to a bar to his bachelor party. Even Hotch was present at that party

Meanwhile Michelle talked with the BAU women and they did the same with Max and her bachelorette party. 

The women drank and dance at Penelope's who offered her apartment for the party.

Spencer and the men went to a bar and drank and eat. Their party was calmer but still the bar has some surprises for the groom and his friends.

All of them returned for their home late that night and they spent their Sunday at Max's dad's home.

That last week was intense for them. She needed to pick up the dresses for the two flowers girls, her bridesmaids and he needed to pick their rings and also get his suit. 

He asked Morgan to go with him and Derek went with Hank to get him his suit. They spent that day together. 

"I like this suit looks pretty cool, pretty boy" he said looking at Spencer in his suit then looked at his son "right buddy?" Hank nodded "now let's see something for us" the former agent walked to his son to pick his suit and his son. 

"So how is the rent business?" Spencer asked after he changed back.

"Great, the houses I bought while I was in the bureau are working perfectly fine" he picked one like the suits he usually wore in his early days in the BAU "I'm winning enough to buy another and work on it"

"So you are busy" said Spencer. 

"Yeah and I'm thinking about teach self-defense classes at the community center maybe even softball"

"You were a great teacher when you got me into that game against National Security" they laughed and after he tried his suit and checked Hank's. Derek insisted in paid them as his gift for him.

After that the two men and the boy ate icecream at the park and talked more about everything that happened since they last saw.

Later that day they went to their houses. The rest of the days went by fast, they did the rehearsal of the ceremony and tried the food they will eat at the wedding, and March 14 arrived. 

Max spent the night before at her sister's house. The wedding would be at 6PM so they went to the same spa they visited for Christmas. 

Meanwhile Spencer went to visit his mom. She was so excited and she told everyone in the hospital about his wedding so a nurse will take her to the ceremony and returned her home when it was done. 

The hours passed and Spencer went to Rossi's house where the Italian man kissed his cheek affectionately and patted the other.

"Congratulazioni son" he smiled "come here" he led him to a room "here you can change and put your suitcase for your first night as a married couple"

"Thank you Dave, I'm so thankful that you allowed us to use your house for our wedding"

"Spencer, you know I'm love parties and I wouldn't miss the opportunity to host your wedding" he smiled "now... Krystall and I thought about this and we decided to buy you a week in Italy" he handed him the tickets"

"Oh my... you shouldn't Dave" he smiled watching the tickets.

"Yes I should. You, Luke and Matt are like my sons. I saw you growing from an awkward to this man in front of me, strong here" he pointed his head "and here" he pointed to his heart "and I'm sure Jason could be proud of you"

Spencer had some tears and hugged him "and you are like my second father figure and my support when Gideon died" they smiled "thank you"

"You are welcome kid. I will always be there for you and your family" they hugged once again and they went to change into their suits.

When they were ready the rest of the BAU arrived to the house, they made a toast and walked to the garden. Morgan and his family arrived, then Hotch with Jack. They went to the garden and Penelope hugged Morgan and they flirted like always making all laughed and have a good time remembering their intentions. 

Later Max's family and her friends arrived and sat in there seats. Spencer's mom arrived soon after and sat with Max's family where she talked to Don and Max's sisters. 

Spencer and Derek stood at the altar with the preacher. Don walked in the house to walk Max to the altar.

"I feel like my stomach its going to explode"

Derek laughed "that's normal pretty boy. It will stop when you see her walking towards you" Spencer smiled.

"I can't wait" the two men smiled then the music started and the Simmons girls walked in throwing flowers as their mom taught them.

Then the ringbearers Michael and Hank walked in, one has Spencer's ring and the other Max's. 

After fifteen seconds, Spencer counted in his mind, Max walked out the house behind the little kids with her father with his arm wrapping hers.

Spencer's eyes were on her. Her white dress hugged her curves around the right places, it has some decorations around the skirt.

Her dad walked her to her soon-to-be husband. Some women were already crying as Don handed Spencer the hand of his daughter "take good care of her Spencer" he patted his hand and walked to sit down. 

"Good evening. We are here to witness the union of these couple. Spencer Reid and Maxine Brenner. Now in front of your friends and family, say your vows, please" he said turning to Max "ladies first"

Max nodded and took a deep breath then she looked at him "Spencer... since we met, you stare at me like I’m the only girl on Earth, you make me feel important and show me my true worth. You’re always there for me, you never let me down" this part brought back the memories of what happened a few weeks away "You make me feel like a princess wearing a golden crown. You’ve shown me how to live, how to smile, how to play, and forever I will love you, each and every single day" 

Then it was Spencer's turn "Max... I never was good to express my feelings, my friends at the BAU can tell you it's truth so, when I say you’re my life, I hope you know that it’s true, when I tell you you’re my world, know that I only have eyes for you.  
When the words cannot come because you take my breath away, know that I love you more than words could ever say" she smiled at him.

"Very good and touching. Now Maxine and Spencer let's exchange the rings" Derek called both kids and tell Hank to hands the ring to Max and Michael to hand the ring to Spencer. Both kids did what he said and walked to sit with their moms "Spencer Reid do you take Maxine Brenner to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part"

"I do" he slide the ring on her left ring finger. 

Then he turned to Max "and Maxine Brenner do you take Spencer Reid to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part"

"I do" And she slide the ring on his left ring finger. 

"Now by the authority vested in me by the Court of the United States of America, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. What God has brought together let no man or woman put asunder. Groom, you may now kiss your bride" and with that Spencer leans in to kiss her just like he once did in the FBI elevator. Everybody clapped at the newlyweds. 

Then they all moved to the table while everyone congratulated them and hugged them.

Spencer and Max had their first dance as a married couple. She picked 'You are in love' by Taylor Swift, they danced to that song on Christmas and after that, she realized how in love she fell for him. That song showed everything they felt for each other and she thought it could be perfect for that magical night.

They danced really close, forgetting everything around them. In that moment the only thing in there minds was each other.

When the song finished he kissed her again and the presents gave then a round of applause as they sat. There were some speeches from some friends congratulating them and hoping for the best for them. 

The night was full of happiness and it was a good time to relax. Spencer danced with his mom and Max with her dad. She danced with each member of the BAU and he danced with her and his girl friends and even her sisters.

After dinner and cake, Derek gave some touching words about Spencer and how proud he was of his little brother from another mother and wishing him good luck in his love life.

Sammy spoke next explaining how his aunt and his, now, uncle met and everyone laughed at the story and some comments the young boy said. He finished his speech with the only magic trick he mastered making everyone clapped at the kid.

Spencer told her about Rossi's present so tomorrow after breakfast they will need to pick up some bags to left at night to Europe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. I don't want it to make what we are facing, you know the Covid-19, into this story. That's why I picked Rome as their honeymoon. 
> 
> May be even a few days in Paris? 
> 
> I will read you in the next chapter.


	26. To Rome with love

After Spencer and Max cut the cake, his mother had to go so Will offered to take her and the nurse back.

Spencer kissed his mother's cheek and hugged her "I will see you when we arrive from our honeymoon" he promised.

"Ok sweetheart. Enjoy" she patted his cheek then turned to Max "I'm so happy my boy met a woman like you. Take care of him" she nodded and hugged her now mother-in-law.

"Thanks for coming and I will keep him out of troubles" she smirked at her and Diana laughed softly and hugged Max.

"Good night" then she left waving her hand. 

Spencer held Max's hand and turned to talk with Hotch.

"So what are you doing beside be a father?"

"Well I'm working as a lawyer. But only for legal consulting and some fathers wanted me to be coach again of the football team again"

"You did a great job when you were Jack's coach" said Spencer.

Hotch laughed "it was when Jack was little. Right now his league is more competitive and it will be harder to deal with the pressure"

"Oh come on you can handle the pressure" commented Spencer when he felt a hand on his arm and when he turned he saw Henry with Sammy and Jack "hey kids what's up?"

"Uncle Spence" said Henry "Jake, David, Chloe and Lily don't believe you can do magic" he continued "so we want you to go and show them" Spencer smiled as the other two kids nodded.

"Ok, do you have the card?" He asked Sammy. The redheaded kid nodded.

"Yes and they are new, I haven't open them" Max bit her lip holding a laugh as her nephew talked excited. 

"Excellent. Let's go" he looked at his wife and former chief then left to the rest of the kids.

JJ and Matt joined Hotch and Max.

"That's the cutest thing ever" said Max looking as Spencer interacted with the kids.

"He always is like that with the kids" commented JJ "I remember been here with Hotch watching as he did some magic tricks to Henry and Jack"

"Or his physic magic" added Hotch.

They laughed at Chloe's face when he pulled a card out of her ear "I'm sure tonight she will ask me to check her ears for more cards" that made everyone laughed more.

"Hey... I think you should go change to leave for your first night as a married couple" said JJ wagging her eyebrows.

Max smirked and the other two men cleared their throat "oh come on Matt, its not like you haven't do it five times to make those cuties" the Asian man laughed "I'm watching Spencer playing with kids and I enjoy it. So we can wait a little more"

JJ smiled watching as Spencer doing more magic tricks to the kids and they laughed and have a good time.

When he ran out of tricks he left them still wondering how he did them. Spencer walked to Max and the parents of his young audience. 

"Congratulations baby, you did an excellent show" she kissed him cheek then held his hand "but we have to go. My family booked a hotel for us with a limousine included"

"That's amazing" he laughed and she nodded and the couple left to change their clothes.

Meanwhile Derek walked to Luke and tapped on his shoulder, when turned Derek said "so you are dating my baby girl, right?"

"Hmm we just had a few dates" said Luke looking at Derek a little nervous and confused.

"Look she is like my little sister, threat her like the princess she is. Am I clear?" Luke nodded.

"Of course, we had a hard started but we ended up understanding each other and when she wasn't my coworker anymore, I asked her to go on a date"

"Great. I like how she is around you. I saw her dancing and having fun and she seemed relax and comfortable. I'm glad she found a nice guy to date"

"Thank you Derek. I know you and her were really close and I will do my best to keep her happy"

"Great man now go with her because I can see she is dying to know what I'm saying to you" Derek winked at her and Luke laughed walking to her.

After that the newlyweds walks out the house. Max was wearing some black pants and a purple shirt and Spencer a white shirt and dark blue pants.

"Well family and friends. Thank you for coming. This was an amazing evening and I just hope we can share more happy memories with all of you" said Max and everyone clapped "we love you all"

All the people clapped again then Max and Spencer left the Rossi house with their suitcases and found the limousine her family rented. The man opened the door for them and put the cases in the trunk then closed their door.

Inside there was an bucket with ice and a bottle of champagne, next to it were two cups and a note.

She held the note while he opened the bottle. 

"Dear Max and Spencer Reid" she smiles at that "first of all, Congratulations! You deserve each other and I couldn't be more proud of calling Spencer my son." she looked at him and he smiled "to celebrate this big night. Michelle, Eloise and me decided to book you a room in a good hotel here in DC. The hotel has a full day with all the food and drinks include and a gift for the newlywed couples. Hope you enjoy it. Loves. The Brenner Family"

"That's so sweet of them" Spencer handed her a cup of champagne and kissed her forehead "I think that will be pretty cool" he looked at her.

"Yeah... and we did the same to Michelle when she got married. Because my parents decided to give us something nice with their savings on our wedding day" she hugged him "they did it with Michelle and start saving for me but I didn't want to get married" she looked up at him "I didn't like the compromise and marry is the biggest of all" she laughed. 

"And why did you accept my proposal?" He asked looking at her curious. 

"Because I realized I wanted that compromise with you. You're decent, kind and a gentleman and of course very handsome. So I thought... I'm truly in love and I want him to be mine" he smiled and kissed her with passion and love.

"I love you and I never was good to express my feelings but with you its easy" he smiled "so I guess we are perfect for each other"

"I'm agree" she laughed and clinked her cup against his and they drink some more.

When they got to the hotel the driver opened the door again and the couple walked out, then he handed their cases and they walked in the hotel lobby. They talked to the receptionist.

The reservation was made with Spencer Reid's name. The man put around their wrist a bracelet that identified them as part of the full day plan. 

"And we know tonight was your wedding so we left some presents in the suite also tonight your dinner will be on us in our fancy restaurant. Congratulations and enjoy" she smiled at the couple, they smiled and thanked her then left to their room.

Spencer and Max walked to the elevator holding hands and looking around the hotel. It was a nice one and it looked expensive. 

"I guess your negatives to get married had made your family budget growth a lot" teased him and she punched him softly. 

"Mean..." she smirked as they got into the elevator. Their room is on the 10th floor so theirs a long way up "but I guess you are right" she leaned her head on his shoulder. 

"Rossi gave us two tickets to go to Rome for our honeymoon"

"Really?" He nodded "that's a great gift. I love Roman architecture oh and the Vatican... I'm drooling right now just thinking about it" he laughed. 

"We will need to find some tours because I heard that you can spend hours in the lines"

"Ok we can book some tours around the city and we need to make a reservation for the hotel. Damn... Rossi should tell us yesterday" 

"Yeah I am agree but don't worry. I think it's not too crowded these days so if we do the reservation tomorrow. I think we will find a good hotel"

"I hope so" she said as the elevator arrived to their floor. They searched for their room and when they found it. He used the key and walked in.

The room was beautiful with a huge bed. They had a beautiful view of the city. There was a jacuzzi and a big bathtub.

She got into the bathroom after checking out the bedroom. Their presents were flowers, fruit, a little box with chocolate and a bottle of champagne in the mini fridge.

She got out of the bathroom using a sexy black satin lingerie sleepwear lace babydoll nightwear features deep v neck, lace patchwork at neckline, side and hemline, with adjustable shoulder straps, and special floral lace halter neck.

Spencer looked at her in shock and his jaw dropped as she walked to him. She laughed softly watching her husband's face "it was Penelope's present" she sat on his lap "I will thanked her when we have that double date she wants" they kissed passionate and they made love that night.

That night was different from their other times together, maybe the married experience made it more epic or was just a silly thought but something felt different. 

They fell asleep in each other's arms until the next day.

They decided to spend the morning at the pool. She even convinced him to swim with her in the pool.

They went up to take a shower and they decided to call for room service, he ordered as she checked some hotels on her phone.

"So did you find something good Mrs. Reed?" Asked him laying next to her.

She smirked and turned to him "yes I did Dr. Reed" she moved to lay her head on his chest "this hotel looks nice and it's not too expensive. Besides we just need a place to sleep cause we will be out almost all day"

"Yeah but yet try to find one with good conditions" she laughed.

"Ok this one is" she checked the information and read it our loud.

"Yes I approve it" she nodded and booked it for a week. Then they checked the tours.

She liked one to the Coliseum and other historic places. She also wanted to check the museums and of course the Sistine Chapel. He suggested some other attractions they could check.

She booked some nice tours "oh Spencie..." she looked at him and he rolled his eyes playfully "we must go to the Fontana di Trevi and toss a coin in then make a wish"

"I know the story. Not like I believe but I'll do it for you" she smiled at him and kisses his cheek.

"I love your scepticism" she hugged him tight "do you want to see anything else around the city?" He shakes his head "ok we have some nice tours booked and also we need to try the proper Italian food" he nodded and then their food arrived. 

They ate and then they laid in bed hugging and slept some after food. 

At night they change to go to the restaurant of the hotels they ate and they dance. There were other couples in the restaurant enjoying everything. 

They headed back to their room and after another heated moment on bed they felt asleep until the next day and after breakfast they left in a taxi.

He got his suitcase with some clothes for a week and left space for some extra things. Then he drove to her apartment and got her clothes. They headed to the airport and check in to their flight which will leave at 6pm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now. I will look for some nice places to visit. Of course the emblematic places of Rome. I will check the distance to other cities so they can visit more places. Hope you liked it
> 
> Comments what you thought. I had been trying to keep a good writing pace but these two last chapters took some more effort.


	27. The Eternal City

"Wow... 13 hours and 35 minutes from Washington DC to Detroit to Amsterdam and lastly Rome" said Spencer while they got their suitcases.

"It was a long flight" said Max wrapping her arms around him "but it was cool since we had some moments in Amsterdam and we got some souvenirs" she smiled "but finally we're in Rome"

"Yeah and I'm really happy to be here, did you know that Rome is call the Eternal City as a reference to its longevity and used first by the Roman poet Tibullus and a bit later, by Ovid?" She kissed his cheek.

"No I didn't know it, thank you for the information" she laughed. She loved when he ramble about historical facts.

He smiled and they walked out the airport and looked for a taxi. They found one and said the name of the hotel they will stay.

In the plane, Max found some brochures about other things to do in the city "do you know you can go to Pompeii for a day? Its not too far from Rome" she commented him on their way to the hotel "we can go by car or helicopter" 

"Sounds pretty cool. I would love to see the Vesuvius volcano and all the fossilized people"

"It must be quite interesting huh?" She said looking at him.

"It is. The pyroclastic flow of the volcano, which is hot gas and volcanic matter, was so hot that the people got frozen in their position and of course die..."

"Ok I will stop you right there babe" she put a finger on his lips "I don't need more details, is it clear?" He nodded "good. Ok I will ask if they have a tour there"

"Ok perfect" he smiled and looked out the window they entered the city so he tapped her to look too.

Both were excited about this travel. Within minutes they arrived the hotel. It was almost six in the afternoon so after check in they decided to take a walk around the hotel's surrounding.

Max was in awe with the house's architecture and their colors. They found a place where they can buy gelato so they bought two and continue walking around for an hour then returned to the hotel, took a shower and ordered room service. 

After finished their food both fell asleep for tiredness not matter the jetlag. 

The next morning was their first tour to the Coliseum and other things close from there.

The tour had a good guide but when you have Spencer Reid by your side you got more details than others.

They walked through the tunnels, stand where gladiators stood and they enjoyed a panoramic view of that iconic place. Then they visit the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill to complete the tour of Rome’s top ancient sites. 

Max brought her camera so she took a lot of pictures of the places they stopped by. She was having a blast while Spencer was enjoying being in such as historical places. 

When the tour finished they went to take lunch at a restaurant close from the Coliseum.

"So where to next?" Asked him drinking some water as they waited for their food. She ordered the traditional pasta with tomato sauce and he decided to order a risotto.

"Well today I could just buy that one but we could visit the Fontana di Trevi and some stores around it, then we can go back to the hotel and do what a couple should at their honeymoon" the last part was a whispers just for him.

He laughs softly and held her hand "I love all your plan for today" he winked and she smirked.

Spencer never was the kind of man who would flirt like that, but with Max was different and I liked that.

Their food arrived and after they finished it, he paid then the couple left to continue their tour.

There was a shop where they have gorgeous toys made of wood. And Max and Spencer decided to but some for the Simmons kids, JJ sons, Hank and her students. 

Then they walked into a bookstore and he found some books he liked and decided to buy them, they were in Italian and he bought a book for Rossi.

They got into a little museum close by and saw some gorgeous paintings from people who were not famous around the world but in the city.

"Sometimes art is so unfair..." she said looking a gorgeous picture of a woman with the Coliseum as her background "some rich person found your painting beautiful, they bought it and then boom you're famous around the world but if you don't have such luck... your painting, that is maybe as gorgeous as a Van Gogh, never see the light"

He hugged her and kissed her head "I understand what you meant, and you are right, some people deserve more recognition for their work"

They left a couple of hours later and it was getting dark so they went to their last touristic location of the day. The Fontana di Trevi.

Max took some pictures of it and asked some guy to take a picture of them at the fountain. 

"Ok Spence now we need to throw this in the fountain and make a wish" she smiled at him as she held two coins in her hand. She handed him one and keep the other.

They both turned as they saw some other people do. Closed their eyes and threw their coins, making a wish. Both coins fell in the water and turned around hugging.

They watched the fountain for some more minutes and then returned to their hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it


	28. Sancta Sedes

The next morning Max woke up first, she took a shower and posted some of her pictures on her social networks.

She smiled at some of them, they asked some people to take them photos, but she also took some of Spencer and he also took some of her.

The gorgeous views of the Roman Forum or the hill were breathtaking and the Coliseum made you wonder who that huge place could be built before the twenty and twenty-first century. 

She decided to give her husband a present and booked an helicopter travel to Pompeii. And after that she closed the page so he could not find out.

She kept posting photos until he woke up, after a kiss she sent him to take a shower so they could eat their breakfast and took the bus to the Vatican City.

An hour later they were at the entrance of the Vatican City, the guide explained what they will do and the rules. They could not wear sleeveless shirts and shorts, no hats, no pets or weapons. 

The tour started as they walked through the Gallery of the Maps and Gallery of Tapestries while their guide told tales of Vatican intrigue. 

They gazed at artifacts such as timeworn yet fascinating Italian maps, and admire the sculptures and candelabras of the Gallery of Candelabras. 

The guide let them stop for photos in front of the Pigna statue in the Pinecone Courtyard, designed by Donato Bramante.

Max was like a kid at Christmas morning watching and taking photos at everything in Raphael’s Rooms, which are a series of galleries that highlight the talent of the lauded Renaissance artist himself. 

They continued to pass through the rooms, and then step inside the Sistine Chapel—the pope’s personal place of worship and a highlight of any Vatican trip. 

All of them were in awe as the stood beneath Michelangelo’s 'The Creation of Adam,' which cloaks the ceiling, and admire 'The Last Judgement,' his colorful mural that adorns a wall. 

"Oh my God... it looks like it was just painted this morning" said Max as she took some pictures of it "this photos are nothing compared to see it in real life"

"I'm totally agree with you" Spencer said looking at the paintings above "did you know that Michaelangelo painted himself in this? He painted himself as a person in hell because he was gay but very religious so he died believing he would go to hell due to this"

"Yeah I'm not surprise at all" she said holding his arm "the people back them were very religious"

The tour continued to St. Peter’s Basilica, the symbolic heart of the Catholic church.

"Ok guys come over here" said their guide "today is Wednesday and normally we can't got to the Basilica or the St. Peter's Square but, the Pope canceled the audiences for today so we can go in. This is an exceptional opportunity for you and you are lucky. Let go"

As they walked through it the learned about its history and see more Vatican art including Michelangelo’s 'La Pietà,' which was sculpted when the maestro was only 24 years old. 

They gazed at the Baldacchino by Bernini, Max continued taking photos of everything they saw. 

Three hours later they said goodbye to their guide in St. Peter’s Square. This tour was breathtaking and Max was almost in tears after witness the art of Raphael, Michelangelo and more amazing artist she learned in the university.

"This was amazing. I enjoyed every bit of this tour" said Max as she checked the photos again after they ordered some coffee and biscotti "and the photos don't express the feelings of watching it in situ"

"Yeah I never thought something about religion could move me so much. The Creation of Adam was something else" commented Spencer after drinking coffee "and La Pietà looked so smooth that you couldn't believe it was stone"

She nodded and ate some biscotti with her coffee "I loved this so much" she sighed looking at him "what else can we do today after this breathtaking morning?"

He got out of his messenger bag a brochure and looked in "well we could go to The Borghese Gallery, they have a littler collection than the Vatican but they also have paintings I'm sure you will love" he smiled at her.

"Sounds like a date" she smirks and leans in to kissed him.

"It surely is a date" he laughed "then we can eat some typical Italian food in a typical house"

"I would like it" she finished her coffee and biscotti.

Then they went to the Galler by taxi. The place was in park and close from there was the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea and the National Etruscan Museum. 

They spent the rest of the day checking the museums. Max talked nonstop about the art in there. Spencer, of course, gave some facts but that was Max's day.

Both had a great day and when they arrived to the museum they ate at their room because they decided to just cuddle in bed and have some alone time.

"I think tomorrow we should stay here in the hotel and then we could keep checking the city on Friday" she was laying her head on his chest and when he said so he looked down at her.

"I'm agree, beside I have something planned for us this Friday"

"What is it?" He was curious about it.

"You will see it on Friday Dr. Reid" she teased him.

"Oh really Mrs. Reid?" She nodded and lifted her head up to kissed his chin.

"Yes and I'm sure you will love it" she played back again on his chest.

"Well I can't wait to see it" he kissed her head "but I'm sure it will he great".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am happy this chapter was easier to write than the last one. I definitely need to keep my mind working on this story.
> 
> Some things Max and Spencer commented in the Vatican were based on my mom's experience there. I made my research about names and what was in there.
> 
> Also I would like to let you know that this story will have a few more chapters and then I will end it.
> 
> I already have the perfect ending for this story.
> 
> The next chapter will be their day in the hotel and I think I will include Pompeii visit.
> 
> Hope you liked it. And I appreciate that you took time of your day reading this and also also if you comment... I love you 3000. Read you later.


	29. Relax and Pompeii

Max and Spencer started their tour less day making love two times, one in their bed and one in the shower.

They decided to spend the day at the pool area so she put on a two piece blue swimsuit and on it a white dress while Spencer was wearing a green short and a shirt.

They went downstairs from breakfast. They ate the typical Italian breakfast, caffè latte with bread for Spencer while Max preferred rolls, butter and jam, and add some fruit. Then they had cookie-like rusk hard bread, called fette biscottate.

Later they went to the pool, Max was sitting in a deck chair sunbathing while Spencer was reading.

The pool started to fill with families, children playing and swimming. Max looked at Spencer. 

"Spence, do you want to get in the pool?" She asked looking at him.

He looked back at her then the pool "do I have to?" He raised his eyebrow. 

"Please?" She said like a little kid "I thought you said you were cure of being a germophobic"

"I am..." he said and this time was her turn to raise an eyebrow "...with certain things"

"Nothing will happen if we get into the pool Spencer" she pouted at him and he sighed. 

"Ok let's go" she smiled big and he took off his shirt and stood up and also did Max. 

She held his hand and they got in the water. It was a little cold but soon they got used of it the water temperature was great.

They swam around the pool, it was big and with a lot of kids with their fathers or mothers playing with them.

"Did you ever think about having kids?" She asked looking at him.

"I did. When he held Henry I thought it could be nice to have on my own but this job was all my life and my first time out of work was after getting out of prison. For every 100 days in the field I had to stay 30 out" he said as they swam "then Maeve's stalker killed her and I lost my faith in finding someone" she held his hand gently and kissed his cheek "then I met you and in months I found what I couldn't in 14 years. So my hope's of being father are there" he smiled and looked at her "what about you?"

She sighed "well I once did... when Sammy was born but as I said I didn't want to get married but also didn't believe in having kids without getting married" he looked at her confused "don't look at me like that Spencer... I'm a contradiction, but anyway... I think that I accomplished my first goal. Which was getting married I think my next step will be having kids" he smiled.

"So we are both agree about being parents" she laughed and nodded.

"Yes, we are" she hugged him. Then she saw some people playing volleyball in the pool "did you ever play volleyball?"

"No" he shook his head "I'm not good with sports" 

"Ok I understand, not all people were born to practice a sport" she looked at the game "so if you want you can go back to our table and I will play here for a while" 

"You sure, have fun" she smiled and kissed him "yeah babe I'm sure, you go back to your book. I will be right here" he nodded and swam back to their table while she joined the team.

Spencer walked out of the pool and on his way to their table a kid called him "sir... excuse me sir..." he turned to see the kid. He has a cast around his leg "do you know how to play chess? It just... I broke my leg at the Coliseum and now my vacations are doomed" he sighed. 

"Umm yeah I know how to play but where are your parents?"

"My mom is doing pilates with "Mr. Handsome" and my dad is playing volleyball. My sister is flirting with a guy 5 years older and my brother is playing with his friends so I'm alone"

Spencer looked around. He was unsure but at the same time felt sorry for the poor kid "sure I can teach you" the kid smiled big.

"Thank you! I'm Steve and you?"

"I'm Spencer. Nice to meet you Steve" Spencer sat down "ok do you know the basic concepts of the game?" He nodded but Spencer to make sure explained again everything. 

How every piece moves around, the main goal of the game and some rules.

When Steve could say everything correctly Spencer decided to play with him to teach him some basic strategies. 

The kid was a quick study and after some games it was getting harder for Spencer to checkmate him.

After almost an hour Max and Steve's dad were going back to their tables when they saw Spencer and Steve playing with some kids behind each of them.

Max walked to her husband "um... Spence, what are you doing?"

"I'm playing with Steve. He made a good play and I need to protect my king"

She laughed and looked at the kid then his father "so this is your husband?" He asked and she nodded "I'm glad my son met him. He is so clumsy that he broke his leg yesterday at the Coliseum" he looked at his son "so my wife and I bought him a chessboard and he found someone who could teach him" he laughed.

"And he found the best. But I'm worry I may lose my husband for the day" she laughed looking at Spencer so focused on the game he did not say anything to her.

Spencer finally made his move and after some more minutes the game was over and they decided to stop right there.

"Maybe tomorrow?"

"I can't. My wife planned something for tomorrow and I have no idea what it is" Steve nodded "but maybe on Saturday we can play, if you want" he smiled.

"Sounds great! thank you Spencer" they shook hands and the man walked back to their table. Max was drinking some water and reading a book.

"Hey baby, what are you reading?" He asked sitting next to her.

"Inferno by Dan Brown. I never have time to read it so everytime I went to a pool I brought it to read it but I found something more interesting" she put down the book and smiled "how was the game?" 

"It was nice. I won but it was harder. He is pretty good" he explained how everything happened and she laughed gently. 

"I think kids love you after all" she laughed remembering what he told her about the Reid effect with kids and animals "the curse was finally broken" 

He laughed and nodded "could be. And how was your volleyball game?"

"Awesome. My team won the first game but the other team won two games and we had to move so another team could play. That's where I met Steve's dad, Salvatore, he said they were from Virginia and came here because his mother died and of course they decided to bring their children with them"

"That is terrible. Have to travel across the Atlantic to see your dead mother" he sighed. 

"Yes it is. I always was scared when I got a call from the nursery house my mom was in back in Vegas. And it was in the same country" Max held his hand and kissed it.

"What about we order something to eat? I saw pizza. I bet pizza in Italy must be better than anything we ever ate" 

Spencer laughed and looked at her with thankful eyes. He got used to the idea of losing his mother at any moment but still the thought hurt him.

"Sure I will call the waiter and order" he did it and after some minutes they were eating pizza. They were small so he ordered two and after a few more hours they went back to their room.

They took a shower and then lay in bed to watch a movie. 

"so what did you plan for tomorrow Max?" He asked curious. 

"Well I decided to give you an especial day. I bought a tour to Pompeii" she looked at him "you were so excited about going so I thought we could visit it"

"I love you Maxine" he said seconds after she finished then he placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her gently before she complained about her full name "thank you" he smiled and rubbed her cheeks.

"You are welcome" they kissed again. It escalated into something more and they ended up making love again. 

They decided to skip dinner and just sleep early because their trip would leave at seven in the morning the next day.

The next morning they decided to buy something on their way to the place they will meet with their guide and the other people.

When they arrived it was six thirty so they bought something to eat and met with some other people, they talked to them until the van arrived, they hopped aboard and travel south in air-conditioned comfort to Italy’s Campania region. 

As they traveled, they listened tales about the colorful southern Italian area and Mt. Vesuvius. 

"After the volcano’s infamous AD 79 eruption, lava and volcanic ash destroyed the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Evidence of those ancient streams of lava is still evident in the area" said Spencer and their guide looked at him surprised.

"He loves the history" said Max smiling and everyone looked at them, then the guide showed them some pictures in their LED screen.

"Pompeii was once a thriving Roman city; today the town is best known for its UNESCO-listed archaeological digs, which are home to a wealth of relics" said the guide.

When they arrived they saw incredibly preserved fossils and other ruins, plus plaster imprints of the town’s victims who were buried for years. 

There you can see the remains of the Forum and Teatro Grande, where some 5,000 people could once be seated. 

The tour guide told them about day-to-day life for the Pompeii locals as they wandered streets where ancient shops, cafes and even brothels could be found.

Their guide let then some free time for sightseeing, and after that they had a Neapolitan pizza lunch. 

They stood in front of them and said "Normally we could hike the Mt Vesuvius but from November 20 to March 31, the Mt is unacceptable" a lot of people sighed and cursed softly, the man continued "So the hike is replaced with a visit to the iconic City of Naples, where we will take a panoramic bus tour and have some free time to walk around the city center"

The city was beautiful and Max made sure to take photos of everything they saw. Then they returned to Rome.

Spencer and Max slept on their way back to Rome. When they arrived the guide woke them up and they took a taxi back to their hotel. 

They spent their Saturday in the hotel with their new friends. Sunday was their last day so they decided to buy more souvenirs for the others left.

When they have it they used their night putting their things in their suitcases, then lays in bed and fell asleep hugging each others.

That was the best week they had and they will keep this amazing city in their mind, hoping to return some day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this. The next one will be their return to Washington.
> 
> Read you later.


	30. Changes

Spencer and Max returned to Washington DC, using the same route. Rome- Amsterdam- Detroit- DC.

When they got their suitcases and walked out of the baggage claim area they saw a big banner with the message 'WELCOME HOME DR. AND MRS. REID' on it.

It was hold by Michelle, Sammy and Eloise. Max ran and hugged her sisters and nephew, then Spencer did the same.

"Welcome back uncle and aunt. I missed you" said Sammy hugging Max.

"We missed you too buddy" said Max as she ruffles his hair "we brought you a present" 

"Really? That's awesome!" Said the kid excited "can I see it?"

"Honey..." Said his mother with serious eyes "they are just arriving, and I'm sure they will give it to you when they rest tonight" the kid looked down and nodded at his mother "how was the flight?" Michelle asked as they walked to the door.

"Great, there was a little turbulence but nothing too serious" said Spencer with a calm voice.

Max shook her head "I was shaking and he just mentioned facts about how an aircraft can crash"

"Oh really? Can you tell me uncle Spence?" Asked Sammy excited.

"Maybe later Sammy. Your aunt Max is still upset about that" said Spencer looking at the kid.

They reached Michelle's car and after putting the baggage in the trunk, they all got in the car and the older sister started to drive.

"Max. This week the Smithsonian called you, when they couldn't reach you on your phone they called me" said Michelle and Max looked worried.

"What? Really? What did you say? What did they say?"

"They wanted to let you know their decision after evaluate the 4 candidates" Michelle said and Max held Spencer's hand tight "they asked me when you will return. I told them the date and they asked if you could go tomorrow afternoon"

"Yes of course I can" she said holding tight her husband's hand.

"That's what I said" was the answer of her older sister and Max relaxed a little "now Spencer. JJ said Georgetown called you" the man looked confused "she said they wanted to offer you the courses. As I did, she explained that you were at your honeymoon so they wanted you to go tomorrow in the morning"

"Aww we were planning to move tomorrow my clothes to Max's apartment. It's bigger than mine" said Spencer "until we find a bigger place and I can move my books in there"

"But if you need help Spencer. Tomorrow we can help" said Eloise "my first class is after lunch tomorrow so I can take my dad there"

"That would be so nice. Thank you Eloise" said him at the younger sister of his wife.

After that the rest of the ride was quiet. Sammy was playing with his mom's phone, Max and Spencer were watching outside the window and the two sisters were listening to the music on the radio.

When they arrived to Max's apartment the couple got out and got their baggage out. They said their goodnight to the three people, Spencer handed Eloise the keys of his apartment then, they went to her apartment and walked in.

They unpacked their clothes to sleep and even with the jet lag, they were too tired to feel it's effects.

OOooOOooOO

The next day Spencer woke up earlier and got out their clothes and put in the washing machine some of them while he was getting ready to go to his new job.

Her classes will be later so he let her sleep some more minutes. Just when he was ready to leave he woke her up.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"I wanted you to rest some more. See you later and we can talk about what the Smithsonian said"

"I'm nervous. What if they don't hire me?"

"Then they will be stupid for losing such a wonderful woman" she blushed and kissed him softly.

"Have a good day Spence. Keep me posted" she said smiling.

"You too" he smiled back and he left to the university.

Spencer's car was at his apartment so he will go to the university in a taxi. 

When he arrived, he walked to the office of the man he always talk with.

"Good morning, I'm here to talk with Mr Martin"

The woman at the reception nodded "your name sir...?"

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid" the woman tapped his name on the computer.

"Floor three, go to the right, the office at the end" he nodded and walked there.

He walked there looking around. He liked this place and was excited about working here as a teacher.

When he reached the office he knocked the door and waited until the voice of Mr. Martin said "come in, please" 

Spencer walked in "good morning sir" he smiled at the man, he was a man in his late sixties and fat body, with white hair, he had glasses.

"Dr. Reidp! Good morning" the old man stood up to shake his hand.

Spencer shook his hand gently "it's good to see you again, sir"

"Same here boy. Please have a seat" he pointed to a chair then he sat down and so did Spencer "congratulations, Agent Jareau told me you just got married"

"Thank you. Yeah it was a week ago and I still can't believe it" he said with a little laugh.

"Hope everything end up well for you. I already signed my fourth divorce" he said a little sad.

"Oh I'm sorry"

"It's ok boy. I will move on, as always" he said with a smile that Spencer noted forced but did not say anything "anyway, thanks for coming Dr. Reid. As you know we will need you to start this April so here are the subject we need you to teach" he handed him a piece of paper "Forensic psychology, geo profile and we opened a little course where we would like you to explain how to profile someone. The classes will be Mondays and Wednesdays and those courses will be an hour on Fridays. Is it ok?"

Spencer nodded "you know I'm also working part time at the FBI, right?" He nodded "this schedule will make it hard"

"Oh, but it's not all day. You will have the rest of the day to go to your other job"

"Sir, if you move two of them? For example, forensic psychology and geo profile to one day? It could be helpful"

"I will see what I can do" said the man checking the other schedules "I will let you know this afternoon" Spencer nodded ready to leave when the man in front of him talked again "one more thing. Do you need a place to live? Because the university has some houses for the teachers. Mostly for people who have to move from another state, but right now we have a free house because Dr. Flinch left to Florida" he looked at Spencer "I'm sure you and your wife will have to find somewhere to live so maybe it can work for you"

"That would be perfect for us, we were indeep planning to look for a house" the man in front of Spencer nodded happy.

"Perfect then... You can move tomorrow if you want" he handed the keys "and I will call you today during the day ok?"

"Yes and thank you sir" Spencer shook his hand again after stood up and walked out the office.

He smiled looking at the keys and decided to check that house. It was close to the building he will work. They were finishing the painting in the house and clean the rooms that were already painted. 

They told him that by tomorrow afternoon it will be ready. Spencer smiled and nodded at the people who were working there.

After that he went back to his apartment where Eloise and Don were getting his clothes in suitcases.

"Good morning Don and Eloise" he said walking in "how are you doing?"

"Oh hey Spencer, we are almost done here" said Don "you have a lot of suits" 

Spencer laughed "yeah I have been working as an FBI agent for fifteen years so needed lot of suits" 

He helped them with the suitcases and moved thembto his car. Then they drink coffee and he told them what happened and that they offered him a house and that they will move tomorrow.

Both congratulate him then they drove back to Max apartment and Spencer decided to call to his friends and asked if they could help him to move in his new home, and they were all accepted.

Spencer went to the Smithsonian waiting for Max. She must be there already so he walked around the area.

Thirty minutes later Max walked out and she looked at Spencer, she was holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms. 

He walked to her "hey" he could not read her expressions "how was it?" He asked.

She looked up at him and her poker face morphed into a big smile "I got the job!" She scream hugging him "I will start next week"

He hugged her tight "congratulations sweetheart! I'm so proud of you and I told you, you will get it" he smiled at her.

"Thank you babe, and what about you?" He explained everything that happened there "ok so we have a house?" He nodded "that's awesome. And do you think they will change your schedule?"

"I think so, but let's see because if they don't I might have to change my status at the FBI. And definitely leave the field" they walked to buy a coffee to celebrate "and those flowers?"

"Well these are as a present for my marriage" she smirked "and of course for be their new employee" 

"That's so sweet of them" they bought coffees and donuts.

"Yeah I'm agree" they continue to talk and then the university called Spencer and they said they could not change his schedule.

Which make him consider his role in the FBI as a field agent. They will wait to talk to Prentiss about it.

The next day they moved to the new house and Spencer asked Prentiss to have a meeting with her the next day. 

Their house decoration was a mix of Spencer and Max's styles which make it look weird but great at the same time, just like their relationship.

Max and Spencer gave each other their souvenirs then they sent Hotch, Jack, Morgan and his family theirs.

The next day Max has to talk with the principal that she found a new job. They asked her to stay until the end of the school year but part time, and she accepted.

Spencer also talked with Emily and she understood what was happening, she told him it was ok if he decided to quit to be a field agent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this. This chapter was planned to finish different but I could not connect with it so I decided to leave it here.
> 
> The next chapter will have a time jump and we will have 2 chapters left.


	31. Those Crackers

A Month Later.

Max had been working part time between the school and the Smithsonian, Spencer started to teach at the university and the rest of the time he was at home researching or getting calls from the BAU to ask him things about the cases they were working on.

They were always busy but they find time to have dates. Sometimes he went to the Smithsonian and have lunch together or he order food for dinner.

They managed their time pretty good. Every women in his classes got sad the moment he said he was married. But that did not stop them from continue going to his classes.

One day Max was not feeling good, she was nauseous and could not hold anything in her stomach. At first she thought it was a food poisoning so she just drank some tea and tried to eat light things. But it did not got any better.

She called both works saying she was not feeling good so she will not go that day. They accepted it and wish her to get better soon.

Spencer did not want to leave her alone but she told him to go give his classes, she will be fine alone for a few hours.

He left still unsure but told her to call him if she needed him. She decided to call Michelle to asked her to come over her house to talk with her while he was gone and asked her to bring a package of crackers.

When Spencer arrived he saw his wife and sister-in-law talking in the living room and he saw the package of crackers on the coffee table. His brain started to work faster making connections.

"Spencer?" Said Max at him a little worry then he realized she was worry because he had some tears on his cheeks "baby are you ok?"

"Ye...yeah, um... Max when did you have your last period?" He asked looking at her.

"Well last month, but it should had came last Frid..." She just realized the same thing her husband did "wait... Do you think I am...?" She could not finish the question.

"Oh my..." Michelle was also in shock "I will get you a pregnancy test" she stood up after the couple nodded. When Michelle left they hugged tight.

"I will book an appointment with the doctor to be 100% sure" he said still hugging her.

"Ok... Gosh... Just when we just started a new job and are so busy" she said looking up at him.

"We will find a way. Beside you have your family. My mom will be so excited"

"I bet she will know the moment she looks at us" said Max "she is so much like my mom. When Michelle got pregnant, mother knew immediately" she laughed but had some tears.

He kisses her head softly "you know that the moment you and I start dating, my mom loves you as her daughter" she hugged her tight until Michelle arrived. 

Max cleaned her tears and walked in the bathroom. She stayed there for some minutes, Spencer and Michelle waiting out of the bathroom.

When she walked out she looked at them "let's wait some more minutes for the result" she held Spencer's hand and wait some more until she checked the test. It showed a little "+" sign, she showed it to him and her sister "it's positive..." She has happy tears once again and hugged them. They hugged back all happy for the new addition to the family.

After some minutes hugging they broke the hug and Spencer called to book an appointment for her.

Before Michelle left they asked her to not tell anyone until the doctor's confirmation. She nodded and promised not to say anything until they gave her permission.

The couple sat in the living room and hugged "according to the paper in this test. It's very accurate and 99 of 100 results are real" she said with her head on his chest "when is the appointment?"

"Next Monday. They said we need a week to run a blood test, just in case and after that the doctor will do the ultrasound"

"What made you think I was pregnant?"

"Those cookies... I remember JJ and Kate, a former coworker, ate them when they were pregnant" he looked down "and other symptoms that made me suspicious"

"Mister Profiler in action" she laughed "I think the guess room will be the room of the baby"

Their house had four rooms, the main room, Spencer's office, Max's studio where she paint or plan the projects for the Smithsonian and the guess room. Also have two bathrooms, one in the main room and other downstairs. A living room, a dinning room and the kitchen. 

"Yeah that's a good option. That room is big enough for everything the baby would need" she nodded.

The rest of the week passed without incidents, they decided to hold the excitement so no one know before it was official.

The day if the appointment, Spencer and Max met at the hospital. While he arrived the nurse ran the blood test and Max was filling the paper they gave her.

He walked to her and sat next to Max "sorry the students asked a lot today and I needed them to understand everything for their assignment" 

"It's ok. The doctor haven't finished yet with the last patient. After her it's our turn" she kissed his cheek.

She finished the paperwork and handed it to the nurse. Then wait some more until they called them.

They walked in the office and the doctor was reading the test in her computer "hello Mr and Mrs Reid. I'm Dr Hailey Underwood" she smiled at the couple "ok, according to your blood test, you are pregnant Maxine"

"Please call me Max" the doctor laughed softly and nodded.

"Ok Max, you are almost 8 weeks pregnant. We can check the baby, go to the next room, change and lay there. Mr Reid, there's a chair if you want to take a seat" he nodded and they stood up and walked there.

Some minutes later the doctor walked in and started the exam "well everything looks great, I think you will give birth in November" the doctor continue to check the baby and she stopped at some point looking the screen in shock.

"Is everything ok doctor?" Asked Max and Spencer at the same time.

"Yes everything is ok... I'm just surprised because you are going to have twins" she said trying to show them on the screen "it's not so clear right now but I saw another leg hiding behind" both parents were in shock but still happy to have twins. He kisses her head after the doctor finished the ultrasound "ok while you clean Max, I will write you a prescription for some vitamins and a list of foods you will need. Also your next appointment will be around 13 to 20 weeks to know the gender of your babies" 

The doctor left the couple "oh my... I can't believe we will have 2 children" said Spencer surprised.

"Yeah me neither" he helped her get up and walked back to the office of the doctor where she was finishing.

"Ok there is everything you will need" she handed her the paper "set the appointment and take care. Enjoy this beautiful experience... Both of you" she shook their hands and they left.

"Should we tell everyone already?" He asked as he opened the door of his car.

"It's official now, so why not?" She got in and he walked to the driver seat getting in the car "beside. The BAU people are like your family, your mom needs to know as soon as possible and we can tell my family tomorrow night. Michelle told me last week they wanted to have a game night"

"Sounds like fun" Spencer decided to go to the nursery home his mother was in.

"We like to do it to be all together one day per week" she said looking out the window "or per month if we can't do it each week" 

"I'm really enjoying your family traditions. They are so much fun" she held his hand "I'm glad tobbe part of them" she kissed his hand as they arrive to the nursery home of Diana Reid.

They both walked out and went holding hands in the place. The nurses greetings and congratulated them.

When they reached the reception the nurse there took them to the room Spencer's mom was.

When they walked in the woman jumped off the bed and walked straight to them. She was smiling big "when did you find out?" 

"A week ago. But we wanted to make sure" commented Max then looked at him with a smirk "It still surprised me how moms know"

"It's a super power you unlock the moment you see those little eyes. You can read them like a book" said her rubbing her son's cheek "but come in and sit down, I need to know everything so far"

They did as she said and they told her about the honeymoon, Max showed her some pictures she took with her phone. 

They told Diana about Max's new job at the Smithsonian. How they found out about their pregnancy and they told her she will be the proud grandmother of two babies.

"Oh my God... I will have two grandchildren. I can't wait to meet them" she smiled "I will have to find the perfect gift for them so they always remember grandma Diana" Max and Spencer smiled at that. Spencer still got sad thinking every time with her could be the last one, so he enjoyed them as much as he could.

"I'm sure everything from grandma Reid will be memorable for them, mom" said Spencer holding the tears and his voice from cracking.

"Honey don't cry. I'm so happy right now so don't mess up this moment" the three laughed. Then the nurse came to let them know they have to go. They hugged Diana and let the hospital.

They went to buy something to eat and when to the park.

They just enjoyed that day of joy. They will be parents and will have twins.

The next day Spencer texted his BAU family to asked them if they were up for lunch with him and Max. They were all agree and he told them to meet them at the Chinese restaurant, their favorite when they were in town.

When all were there and the order was set they talked, he even invited Penelope. There were so teasing from Tara about Luke and Penelope.

They all laughed at her blush and his awkwardness. They keep talking happily then Spencer decided to talk cleaning his throat "ok guys we invited you here to tell you something. Something very important" he said smiling at them "recently Max and I found out that..."

"We are expecting!" Said both at the same time. 

It took the rest of the team some time to understand what they meant but when they did, they all congratulate them and hug them.

"And not only that..." Added Spencer. The team looked at him "according to the doctor, we will have twins" 

"Oh my... So I will have two godchildren to spoil?" Asked Penelope.

Max laughed softly "yeah but don't spoil them to much" she held Spencer's hand "I'm glad they will have you all around because as I told Spencer, you are his family so you are all like uncles and aunts for them" JJ has some tears at that.

"I always wish Spence could be father one day. Since he held Henry and watching him with all the kids we ever helped, I just imagine him being a good father. Congratulations" she raised her cup and everyone did the same "for the new BAU babies" then they clinked their cups.

"We will have baby geniuses" said Penelope "Oh I volunteer to plan the Baby shower" Max nodded, not wanting to unleash her anger.

They continued to talk while eating and when they all finished the team returned to the office, Spencer drove Max and Penelope back to their work and he went back to the campus to teach.

At night they told Max's family and Sammy was beyond happy with the idea of have two cousins and promised to help his aunt Max when he can.

The night was very relaxing, they played Uno, Scrabble and other board games. Then Max and Spencer left early. 

It was a busy day so they were both tired and felt asleep almost immediately.

A week later, Spencer was checking his students essays about the last class, while Max was a the Smithsonian, when he got a phone call.

The call was from Emily, he stood up to get more coffee while answering "hey Emily, is there a case?" He asked as he reached the kitchen.

"Hey Spencer, no we don't have a case. I was calling to know how are you and Max"

"We are great, she is dealing better the morning sickness and I had to buy a bunch of crackers for her. Also something weird happened. She said since we found out about the pregnancy, she can't handle the smell or even the taste of coffee"

"Oh my... And that's your addiction" she laughed "how are you managing it?"

"Thankfully my working hours are when she isn't here so I can drink it all day" they both laughed.

"I heard that could happens but also her wanting weird foods"

"True, she haven't asked me for something weird just yet" 

"Great, but be prepare" he laughed "there's something else I need to tell you. I had been wondering how I will tell you this but I can't keep postpone it any longer"

"You can tell me anything, you know it"

"Yeah I do" Emily took a deep breath "The women's prison called me yesterday. They booked Catherine Adams' execution to this Friday. They said she didn't asked for her last meal, she was happy with what she got when she had that weird date with you" Spencer closed tight his fist around the cup "she asked for you to be there"

"I said I wanted to be there when that needle stick in her arm but now I'm not sure"

"I know she did horrible things to you and I will understand if you don't want to. Sleep on it and let me know. And ask Max. If I were her I would totally want to show off my ring to that bitch" Spencer could hear her smirk and could not help but smile.

"I'm sure she would stick that needle herself"

"I bet she would" Emily laughed "call me with your decision so I can inform the prison you will be there"

"Ok, bye Emily" they ended the call and went back to work. His mind still thinking about it.

At night he decided to cook something for her and when she arrived she was surprised by it.

"Are we celebrating something?" She asked looking at her husband.

"No I just wanted to have a night date and tell you something" he gave her a plate with baked chicken with mashed potatoes and a glass of water.

"Is it bad?"

"I don't know" he answered honestly "well I guess Emily and everyone in my team told you everything about Cat Adams" she nodded "when she was at the FBI offices, she said she plead guilty of 73 murders and request the death penalty" Max nodded, remembering Emily saying it "they booked it this Friday" 

"Oh..."

"Yeah and Emily asked if I would like to go. I told her I would be there to happily see her death but I'm not sure it's worthy"

Max held his hand gently "you should go. That bitch needs to know she didn't win. She needs to know that we beat her" 

"Yeah... But I don't.... Wait a minute... Are you suggesting to...?"

"Yes Dr. Spencer Reid, I want to go. In fact I would gladly change position with the doctor to stick it in myself" he laughed and nodded.

"Of course you would, then I will tell Emily to send our names to the prison" he kisses her hand.

They are changing from topic to topic then cuddle in the couch.

"Do you have any idea of how we should name our babies?" She asked playing with his fingers.

"Well I have two names I would like to use" she looked at him expecting "since there will be two babies. If we have a boy and a girl I would like Jason and Diana. Any of them could be first or second name I don't mind"

"And if we had two boys or two girls?" 

"I'm not sure yet" he looked at her "and what about you?"

"Well I think I would like Rachel, that was my mom's name and my boy option could be Alexander, that was the name of an uncle who made me realize I should study art" she smiled "he was amazing and I miss him so much"

"Sounds perfect, so maybe we can play with those four options. Jason Alexander Reid and Rachel Diana Reid. And if we have two girls or two boys we can use them our two options as first name and just add a second name. What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect" she kissed him. Then they both went to their room and falls asleep hugging each other.

The next day Spencer called Emily and let her know the decision they made. Then she informed the prison.

In a few days he will have his revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next will be the last! Cat will have one last appearance in Reid's life, I want to do an epic thing that makes her be angry, something like Hotch did in Riding the Lightning when he showed that criminal Sarah Jean saved her son.


	32. A Clean Sweep for Team Reid.

Mount Pleasant Women's Correctional Facility.

"Hello Dr. Reid, it's been a while since I saw you" said the prison guard as he and Max walked in.

"Hello Officer Grey, it's good to see you, of course I would prefer it could be in better conditions" the man nodded.

"I'm agree. Please put your weapon here and everything that could be use as one for the prisoners" Spencer does it "who is she?"

"My wife" said Spencer.

"Oh congratulations doc. I didn't know you got married"

"We just got married so it's still something new" he smiled and the couple walked thru the metal detector and the officer lead them to the room where Catherine Adams will die "officer I would like to talk to her before you take her to her execution"

"You sure? I know she did some bad things to you" 

"Yes sir, I'm sure" the guard nodded.

"Ok, ma'am the room you must go is at the end of the aisle then turn to the left" he pointed where she had to go.

Max nodded and kissed Spencer before said "be careful, she will try to get under your skin one more time before she left this world" 

He looked in her eyes and nodded "I know but you will be in my mind" he smiled and left with the guard as Max walked where the office said so.

Spencer took of his wedding ring for the first time in a month. He wanted Cat to know that he got married while the needle was under her skin.

The officer left him in an interrogation room. The feeling of being in a prison again was terrible but he knew he would never return there.

Some mini later the guards sat Catherine in front of him "Spencie you came!" She said in an exciting tone and he rolled his eyes "you're one of the few men who fullfil their promises"

"Yeah, after everything we had been thru, it's the less I could do" he said with his poker face on "sadly I can't be the one who do the honor of stick that needle in your arm"

"Don't be mean Spencie, I know you will miss our little games" she said in a little girl tone "it's a shame... Maxie didn't end up here, huh? I guess you didn't send her to prison" he clenched his fist and Cat did a noise with her tongue "Spencie, a good FBI agent never pick sides" she smirked.

"I'm not here to talk about Max, I'm here to make sure they say you are gone for good and won't ruin another relationship I might have" 

"I will be always in your mind Spencie, as you told me skating" she winked at him as some officer walked in to get her ready for the execution "bye bye Spencie... I had fun with you" she left smirking, thinking their score was 2-1, she lost against him twice in her mind but at the end she felt like she took away his chance to date someone.

Spencer took a deep breath, relaxing his muscles, he felt tense with her, he put back on his wedding ring and kissed it gently like if he was remembering that everything was fine and Max was his forever.

He stood up and walked back to Max. When he arrived she was there with some other members of the team. They wanted to see Cat finally gone for good.

Spencer walked straight to her and kissed her, it was needed, like he was a dying man and her lips were the water he needed to survive. 

After it Max asked against his lips "How was it?"

"As annoying as you can imagine" he rubbed her cheeks gently and then they sat with their friends.

Spencer held Max's hand when the officers walked in with Catherine Adams and a priest to gave her some final words to see if she will change.

Max was annoyed to see her again but she decided to go there and witness her dead and to rub on her face that she outsmarted her.

After some words from the priest the execution started. An officer put the tourniquet around her arm, the doctor cleaned the area with a cotton with alcohol and then stick the needle after finding a vein.

They released the tourniquet and Max decided to make her move. She stood up and walked to be in front of the window. Cat's eyes showed the surprise of seeing her there.

Max put her wedding picture with Spencer against the glass with one hand and with the other a message. 

"3-0. Perfect score, bitch. The Reid Family"

Cat's eyes were full of hatred and anger that everyone thought the killing liquid flowed faster.

"NOOOO.... I WON... YOU KILLED YOUR BOYFRIEND!!!" Cat screamed out at her.

Max smirked and shook her head. Cat's eyes realized what happened months ago and her face calmed down. You could read in her face that, a woman, a sister in this men's world betrayed her.

Then after several minutes Catherine Adams was declare dead. Spencer and the team hugged with Max. Finally the most dangerous hit woman they ever faced was dead.

After that Spencer felt like he could finally rest, he will stop looking his surrounding because everyone could be working for Cat, he was free and not only him but his wife and their children.

Some weeks later, they have an appointment to know the gender of their babies. They were excited about this. Max already ordered to paint the room. They painted it white and she decided to paint something on the wall. 

If they have a boy and a girl, she will paint a train on a wall and a beautiful princess with some flowers on the other wall.

The doctor checked her blood pressure, weight and ran some blood test then they were to the ultrasound room where the doctor checked the babies.

"Ok Max and Spencer. I confirm that you will have twins. I can see them now. And I can tell you the gender of your babies. Do you want to know?" She asked. The couple nodded "ok, baby number one is a boy!" The couple had some tears of joy "and baby number two is a girl!" More tears of joy "congratulations, I will print the result for you. Do you want some copies" the nodded "ok I will get you some of them. You can clean the gel and walked back to my office" the doctor stood up leaving the couple alone.

"I still can't believe we will be parents" said Spencer helping Max sat down and kissed her forehead hugging her.

"Me neither but we are and it's the best feeling ever" she hugged him tight.

The rest of her pregnancy was calm. Her students cried the final day of classes and they gave her some toys they don't use for her kids, something they planned with their teachers.

Her co-workers at the school organized an early baby shower and each gave her a little present for the kids and for her. Max was hormonal all day and cried a lot.

She was thankful for that job and will miss them. They all hug and Spencer picked her up.

They decided to sell Spencer's old car and with that money and some more they saved, buy a bigger and more modern one for the babies.

As promised, Penelope hosted the official baby shower with all the BAU people and Max's family.

Dave and his wife gave them the cribs, one blue and the other pink; the Simmons gave them two baby bags and a first edition copy, signed by all of them plus David, of the "Simmons' Stories for Children"; Luke, Tara and Penelope joined to give them a set of feeding bottle with the engraving "genius babies" on each, three pink and three blue.

Derek and Savannah gave them Hank's first car seat and bought one for the extra baby; Max's family gave them a double baby stroller; Diana promised them some days ago knitted blankets for her grandchildren; Jack and Aaron gave them his collection of favorite books.

"My mom used to read me those" he said with some tears in his eyes "please read it to them" they nodded with tears in their eyes too.

JJ and her family gave them two changing tables for the kids. Ashley, the new team member, gave them some onesies, with different designs that matched Spencer and Max's personalities.

Last but not least, Emily and Andree gave them a rocking chair, Emily told them it was her mother's favorite when she was a child and she wanted to give to her BAU little brother. Spencer hugged her tight with tears in his eyes.

After that, the men helped Spencer moved everything to the babies rooms. The following week Max asked Penelope, her sisters and JJ to help her paint the train and princess with the flowers.

Spencer was teaching that day, they were having a good time with music and some ice tea. It was the third week of November and the babies were expected that week.

When they finished they decided to go to the living room and talk some more when Max showed a painful face. The women panicked but them JJ and Michelle recognized it... "My/Her water just broke" the three women said at the same time.

"Ok Max breath" said JJ with her 'unsub with a gun pointing at her' voice "Penelope go upstairs to get her bag with clothes and Eloise turn on the car" both women nodded and ran to do what she ordered "let's go Michelle, help me" they walked with Max, who was struggling to keep calm and breathing, to the car. 

Penelope ran downstairs with the bag and she was calling Spencer but his phone was turned off.

"Damn it... Boy wonder must be in class" she said as they got in the car.

"It's ok. Leave him a message and he will go to the hospital" said JJ as she started to drive.

She drove fast to the hospital. Meanwhile Penelope sent a text to the team 'Houston we have a baby delivery x2' and hit sent.

They arrived to the hospital and immediately took Max to a room where she asked for her husband.

He arrived some minutes later. JJ decided to pick Diana up, her son was about to be a father, she needed to be there.

Michelle called her father to drive to the hospital with her son.

After some more hours waiting, Spencer finally walked out the delivery room with a big but tired smile. 

"They are both perfectly fine. A handsome prince and a beautiful princess" he said and each of his friends and family hugged him "it's a small room so first my mom, Max's dad and sisters, JJ and Derek" they all nodded and follow Spencer.

In there were Max holding on of them, and the other was held by a nurse.

The nurse handed the baby to him "hi everyone" he said as if the baby talked "this is Jason Alexander Reid" the BAU members recognized the name of their former friend and co-founder of the unit and Max's family recognized the name of their uncle/ brother.

Spencer passed him to his mother, then Max said "and this is Rachel..." She held a sobb saying her mom's name, and so did her sisters and father "...Diana Reid, mommy's princess" she handed her to her father.

The two babies were sleeping and quiet, Diana had some tears in her eyes "I never thought I would see this day coming... My boy had two children and I couldn't be prouder" she kissed Spencer's cheek and then Jason's forehead.

She handed the boy to JJ and Don did the same to Michelle, each held the babies and left the room except JJ and Derek.

"JJ and Derek, you are like a brother and a sister to me and Max and I thought it could be fair to make you godparents of Jason and Rachel"

"Really?" Said JJ with tears, she held Jason in her arms and whispered "maybe I can call Caltech or Yale but I'm sure will take you to the zoo" she laughed and kissed her new godson and did the same with Rachel.

"Thank you little brother and I promise to spoil them with lot of sports" he laughed and hugged him.

Then the rest of the people walked in to meet the babies. Dave even cried when Spencer said the name of his son. He know Gideon would be proud of his boy.

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone; we find it with another." — Thomas Merton.

Fin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter! What a journey! Thank you for reading, thank you for commented it, thank you for recommending it. I enjoyed this experience, my first long story in a long time and in English! 
> 
> I learned so much and made some friends with this. Hope you all read my new story Double Dates (mostly Garvez but with some other couples)
> 
> Again, thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok this was all for now. I hope you like this first part. The second will be up tomorrow or tonight.
> 
> There will be all the dialogues between these three characters and their emotions.
> 
> I hope my writing isnt that bad. English isnt my native language.


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